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AdrianP edited this page Mar 19, 2021 · 17 revisions

Freeboard-SK FAQs

Find the answers to common issues here.

About Freeboard-SK

The goal is to create a pure Signal K web based chartplotter (based on Openlayers) to showcase the use of the Signal K specification.

Freeboard-SK is a stateless web application which can be used on a large variety of devices and displays. Stateless means that it: sources all the data it uses from and stores it's configuration on the Signal K server from which it is served making it multi-station and multi-user ready.

Freeboard-SK requires that the necessary Signal K paths are appropriately serviced by the target Signal K server. This will require that the appropriate plug-ins are installed. See README or HELP within the Freeboard-SK app for more.

Topics

  1. What plug-ins do I need?

  2. Why does the loading screen not disappear after an update?

  3. Why can't I save Routes and Waypoints?

  4. Why is Course data not being calculated?

  5. What Charts can be displayed?

  6. Can I display recorded Tracks?

  7. Can I display my own resource types? Answer: See Working with Resources

  8. Tips for Developing with Docker

Plug-ins

To ensure the most complete set of functionality the following plug-ins are required and configured:

  1. freeeboard-sk-helper: (Provider for ./self/navigation/courseGreatCircle paths.) Allows a destination to be set which enables course data to be calculated.
  2. sk-resources-fs: (Provider for ./resources/ paths: Routes, Waypoints, Notes & Regions.) Required to create and display resources.
  3. @signalk/charts-plugin: (Provider for ./resources/charts.) Required to display charts other than OpenStreetMap and OpenSeaMap.
  4. signalk-anchoralarm-plugin: (Provider for anchor position and radius values and anchor notifications.) Required to set anchor alarm.
  5. signalk-simple-notifications: (Provider of notifications.) This plug-in can be used to generate notifications for DEPTH alarms.
  6. signalk-derived-data: (Course calculations.) This plug-in can be configured to calculate CPA and course data values which are displayed in Freeboard-SK.
  7. signalk-buddylist-plugin: (Provider of notifications.) When configured buddies vessels will display with a different color to identify them from other vessels and notifications are displayed when these vessels are approaching or leaving.
  8. signalk-to-influxdb: (Vessel Track and History data provider.) Required to perform History Playback and display vessel trail stored on the server.

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Why does the loading screen not disappear after an update?

This situation occurs due to previous version Freeboard application files being stored in the browser cache and being used in conjuction with newer files.

To resolve the situation you can tell the browser to not use the cahced version of files by holding down shift whilst refreshing or alternatively clear the browser cache from the browsers settings menu.

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Why can't I save Routes and Waypoints?

To be able to save resources such as Routes and Waypoints the Signal K server will need to support the ./signalk/v1/api/resources paths for each resource type.

For Signal K node server this requires a plugin such as sk-resources-fs:

  1. Install sk-resources-fs plugin.
  2. Using Server / Plugin Config enable the required resource paths.
  3. Restart the server.

Note: More than one plugin may be configured to service the resources paths so ensure ONLY ONE plugin is configured to service resource paths! (e.g. the @signalk/simple-gpx plugin will conflict with routes and waypoints provision)

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Why is Course data not being calculated?

Freeboard does not calculate course data but instead relies on course data to be present on the Signal K server.

Course data on the server is calculated by using the signalk-derived-data plug-in. Make sure the course calculations are enabled.

To trigger the course data calculations the ./navigation/courseGreatCircle/nextPoint path needs to contain the appropriate values.

Install the freeboard-sk-helper plug-in to enable Freeboard-SK to set the required path values and trigger the calculations making the data available for display.

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Charts

Freeboard-SK relies on @signalk/charts-plugin to provide chart meta-data at the /signalk/v1/api/resources/charts path. Both locally hosted charts using mapbox tiles format and online charts can be referenced when configuring the plug-in.

Chart types currently supported by Freeboard-SK are:

  1. MapBoxTiles
  2. WMS tile layers.

Freeboard does not provide the ability to "side load" charts locally from a device.

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Tracks.

Whilst not currently part of the Signal K specification Track data stored in GPX files can be imported and displayed using Freeboard-SK.

To achieve this Freeboard-SK requires the /signalk/v1/api/resources/tracks path to be available on the Signal K server with support for HTTP GET, PUT, POST and DELETE operations.

You can use the sk-resources-fs plug-in to provision the /signalk/v1/api/resources/tracks path by:

  1. Go to the Server / Plugin Config menu
  2. Expand the Resources (sk-resources-fs) section
  3. In Other Resources add a tracks entry.
  4. Click Submit and then make sure to restart the Signal K server to ensure the paths are served.

Now in Freeboard:

  1. Open Settings and go to the Resources: Paths section.
  2. In the list of available paths check tracks.

Now when using the Load GPX File option Tracks contained within the file will be available to be selected and uploaded to the Signal K server.

"Tracks" will be an available resource layer to display in Freeboard.

For more information see Working with Resources

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