---
name: helcom-ais-shipping-density-ingestion
description: "How to get HELCOM AIS shipping density maps data into a pandas DataFrame and Parquet: access, the request, the format, limits, quirks and terms."
---

# Fetch HELCOM AIS shipping-density metadata record

Source entry: https://signal-lab-jet.vercel.app/datasets/helcom-ais-shipping-density
Provider: https://helcom.fi/baltic-sea-trends/data/
Checked against the provider's documentation: 2026-11-05

## Access
- No account for the public HELCOM metadata catalogue record.

## Request
```bash
curl 'https://metadata.helcom.fi/geonetwork/srv/api/records/2558244b-0cea-46e9-8053-af6ef5d01853'
```

## Format
GeoNetwork metadata HTML/XML for HELCOM AIS Shipping density maps (2006–2024).

## Load into pandas and Parquet
Needs Python 3 with requests, pandas and pyarrow.
```python
"""HELCOM AIS shipping-density metadata probe -> pandas -> Parquet."""
import pandas as pd
import requests

URL = "https://metadata.helcom.fi/geonetwork/srv/api/records/2558244b-0cea-46e9-8053-af6ef5d01853"
r = requests.get(URL, headers={"User-Agent": "SignalLabCheck/1.0"}, timeout=60)
r.raise_for_status()
df = pd.DataFrame([{"url": URL, "status": r.status_code, "bytes": len(r.content), "has_2006": "2006" in r.text, "has_2024": "2024" in r.text, "has_free_for_public": "free for public use" in r.text.lower()}])
df.to_parquet("helcom_ais_shipping_density_meta.parquet", index=False)
print(df)

```
Run by us on 2026-11-05 (python 3 | pandas | pyarrow | requests). Result: HELCOM metadata record 2558244b-… returned HTTP 200 on 2026-11-05; page text includes 2006–2024 coverage and "free for public use" citation language.

## Limits
- Not stated numeric rate limit.
- Full density zip size is large; this skill only probes metadata.

## Quirks
- Density is trip crossings per 1×1 km cell from HELCOM AIS, not raw AIS messages.
- Cite HELCOM under CC-BY / data policy §5.3.

## Terms and attribution
- CC-BY with HELCOM attribution per HELCOM data policy §5.3 and density metadata use constraints.
- Terms page: https://helcom.fi/baltic-sea-trends/data/data-policy/

## Sources
- https://helcom.fi/baltic-sea-trends/data/data-policy/: "the data use conditions should be according to CC-BY license"
- https://metadata.helcom.fi/geonetwork/srv/api/records/2558244b-0cea-46e9-8053-af6ef5d01853: "HELCOM data is free for public use, however HELCOM should always be cited as the data source."

## Help improve this skill
Missing a source, or see something to improve? Call the MCP tool suggest_source or feedback (or POST /api/suggest or /api/feedback). Reviewed ideas: https://signal-lab-jet.vercel.app/agent-suggestions

Information for educational purposes only. Free tiers, limits and licenses belong to the providers and may change; check the provider's own terms before using the data.