Hi r/DataIsBeautiful, I am a cartographer and recently got my hands on the awesome data from [GMTDS](https://globalmaritimetraffic.org/gmtds.html) and could create a visualisation of the average traffic (all ship types combined) in Europe in 2024. I tried to show what was the major type of traffic by area with some icons. I used QGIS to process the data and Adobe Illustrator for the graphic design
Out of interest: is there no major shipping traffic across the Atlantic? I would have imagined that there are ships going to either north or south america from the main european ports, but one cannot really see it.
Pyrhan on
Maritime traffic generally correlates quite well with nitrogen dioxide levels over the oceans:
![Choreography on the seas – a marine traffic map of Europe [OC]](https://www.byteseu.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/01r431lb5i7g1-1536x1536.jpeg "Choreography on the seas – a marine traffic map of Europe [OC]")
3 Comments
Hi r/DataIsBeautiful, I am a cartographer and recently got my hands on the awesome data from [GMTDS](https://globalmaritimetraffic.org/gmtds.html) and could create a visualisation of the average traffic (all ship types combined) in Europe in 2024. I tried to show what was the major type of traffic by area with some icons. I used QGIS to process the data and Adobe Illustrator for the graphic design
You’ll find mire similar maps [here](https://www.perrinremonte.com/thema-eng), on my website! (I recommend browsing the website on a laptop screen)
Out of interest: is there no major shipping traffic across the Atlantic? I would have imagined that there are ships going to either north or south america from the main european ports, but one cannot really see it.
Maritime traffic generally correlates quite well with nitrogen dioxide levels over the oceans:
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/chem/surface/level/anim=off/overlay=no2/orthographic=-345.88,50.25,359
Look around the globe, some shipping routes are really obvious!