ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces a methodology for characterizing port anchorage areas, analyzing their relevant activities and building maritime traffic networks through the analysis of vessel tracking data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS) in the Mediterranean Sea. It gives an overview of the data used. The chapter describes the novel methodological approach. It presents the main results areas -the vessel mooring area shapefile and network analysis. The chapter dedicates to conclusions and possible future research directions. In the maritime domain, the AIS is the most extensively used positioning system to monitor vessel movements. AIS transponders transmit regulated messages composed of a set of data. Trajectories can be thought of as footprints left by moving objects such as ships, cars or people in a geographical space during a given time interval. Trajectory modeling is a necessary step to enable the automatic extraction of knowledge from a time series of positions, which identify the behavior of single entities.
