Skylight uses public and commercial data sources to derive various insights (vessel behaviors, detections). Skylight also relies on authoritative sources for maps and vessel information. 

AIS

Skylight purchases a near real time AIS feed from Spire. Skylight processes this data to identify certain vessel behaviors (Events). This data cannot be used for displaying vessel positional points. 

For more information, visit Spire Maritime.

Vessel Detections

Skylight process several types of satellite imagery to detect vessels. These include

Satellite Radar

• Sentinel-1 from the European Space Agency's Copernicus program. 
• More information here.

Optical Imagery

• Sentinel-2 from the European Space Agency's Copernicus program. 
• Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 from the US  National Aeronautics and Space (NASA)
• More information here

Night Lights

• SUOMI-NPP and NOAA-20 (JPSS-1) and NOAA -21 (JPSS-2) from US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).  
• More information here

Skylight also purchases some vessel detection data and imagery through Maxar. More information here.

Maps and map layers

Skylight leverages maps and map layers from recognized map sources. 

Base map 

Source: Mapbox

This is the underlying display of land and water before the application of any layers. It includes the coastlines, country boundaries, labels on land (e.g. country and city names), labels on water (e.g. Arafura Sea, Indian Ocean).

If you are uploading areas to Skylight, note that the Coordinate Reference System for the base map is OGC:CRS84.

Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ)

Source: Flanders Marine Institute (2019). 

Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase. Maritime Boundaries and Exclusive Economic Zones (200NM), version 11. Available online at Marine Regions IMIS .

12 Nautical Mile (12 NM) Layer

Flanders Marine Institute (2019). Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase: Territorial Seas (12NM), version 3.

Available online at Marine Regions IMIS .

Bathymetry Layer

General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) Compilation Group. Version GEBCO_2022 Grid. https://gebco.net/

Notes on the handling of map and map layer data

Skylight strives to utilize current and internationally accepted borders/areas by referencing the sources above. However, the designations employed and the presentation of this information on Skylight do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of Skylight or the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Skylight also strives to make minimal changes to the map layers provided by default to all users. These are some of the changes you may see to data imported from the reputable sources mentioned above:

• Removing “EEZ” or “Exclusive Economic Zone” from the label (because it’s implied by the Layer)
• Simplified boundaries
  • The baseline border for  map layers is a simplified, traced line that may cut across bays and between peninsulas. This makes it appear the 12 NM territorial waters do not touch every part of the coastline. These layers should not be considered official sources.
  • Skylight performs light processing that impacts boundaries, specifically simplifying the shapes to improve performance (loading speeds). The results of this shape simplification are most obvious nearshore where you’ll see the area does not following the coastline:
     

Issues with maps and map layers

For official areas, it is best to upload these as “Areas of Interest.”

For errors in the map or map layer (shape, name, etc) you can review known issues from MarineRegions

• EEZ layer known issues
• 12 NM Territorial Waters known issues

If the issue is not recognized here, the MarineRegions Feedback form is available here.

Vessel Information

AIS information

The first source of vessel information is from AIS (Spire). 

This include  the vessel name, MMSI, IMO and length (m). The vessel's flag/flag state is derived from the Maritime Identification Digits (MID), which are first three letters of the MMSI.

This data accompanies the positional points in AIS messages that Skylight processes.

Partner data

Skylight includes Global Fishing Watch data where available. This data includes various fisheries related data, such as gear type, as well as the source for that data.

Skylight also provides links to other platforms to learn more about a vessel or associated infomration (e.g., ownership).

• GFW and TMT Vessel Viewer
• C4ADS Triton
• MarineTraffic

You may need additional login details for (full) access.