[eli5] How vessel tracking work ? Who provide the data to them ?
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Automatic Information System (AIS) is a system to be fitted on most commercial vessels (300 gross tonnes or more for international voyages, 500 gross tonnes or more for non-international voyages and all passenger vessels). (These are class A, class B are for pleasure crafts etc)
The system works on the VHF band, basically meaning any other system in the line of sight will get my information. For a class A system this include GPS, speed, course, number of persons onboard, destination, dimension of vessel including draft, call sign, mmsi, status etc)
Web trackers like marine traffic have antennas around the world to pick up the signals and make them available on there webpage for tracking and spotting from home.
Another option is LRIT (LongRange Identification and Tracking). This contains though much less information, mainly used for tracking cross ocean passages for SAR purpose.
Lastly, in modern times, the vessels are beginning to be ever connected via satellite internet to shore functions. This information is though typically only for in-house use and not available for others. But also here is GPS position etc included in the data
Source: navigational officer for a major container carrier
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