Stream live AIS vessel positions over WebSocket via AISstream.io
domain: aisstream.io · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
Sampled — shipped under file-level sampling, not individually fact-checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Steps
Create an aisstream.io account (sign in via GitHub or another supported provider) and generate a free API key from the API Keys page.
Open a WebSocket connection to wss://stream.aisstream.io/v0/stream.
Send a subscription message as the first frame, including your API key and filters (e.g., bounding boxes, MMSI filters, message-type filters).
Read streamed JSON messages (e.g., position reports, static ship data) as they arrive, each including MMSI, lat/lon, course/speed, and message-specific fields.
Implement reconnect/resubscribe logic, since this is a persistent streaming connection rather than a polling REST call.
Known gotchas
All control traffic must be over wss (encrypted) - plain ws will not authenticate.
This is a push/stream model, not request-response - your client must handle unbounded message flow and reconnects, unlike typical REST polling.
Coverage depends on AISstream's terrestrial/community receiver network - it is not a substitute for satellite AIS in blue-water/remote areas.
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