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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.

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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. Why aren't apps in Instruments panel not working?

7. Can I display recorded Tracks?

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

9. Tips for Developing with Docker

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Plug-ins

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

1. @signalk/charts-plugin: (Provider for ../resources/charts.) Required to display charts other than OpenStreetMap and OpenSeaMap.
2. signalk-anchoralarm-plugin: (Provider for anchor position and radius values and anchor notifications.) Required to set anchor alarm.
3. signalk-simple-notifications: (Provider of notifications.) This plug-in can be used to generate notifications for DEPTH alarms.
4. 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.
5. 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?

Ensure the Resources Provider plugin is enabled on the server and that each desired resource type is checked.

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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.

Ensure the Course Data Provider plugin is enabled on the server to populate the relevant Signal K paths.

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Charts

Freeboard-SK relies on the server providing chart meta-data via the ../api/resources/charts path. Depending on the types of charts being used, install a suitable chart provider plugin on the Signal K server (e.g. @signalk/charts-plugin) to ensure chart meta-data is available.

Chart types currently supported by Freeboard-SK are:

1. Image tiles (XYZ)
2. Vector Tiles (MVT / PBF)
3. S57 ENC's converted to vector tiles (MVT / PBF)
4. WMS (Web Map Server)
5. WMTS (Web Map Tile Server)
6. PMTiles (ProtoMap files - requires signalk-pmtiles-plugin)

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

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Instruments

Why aren't apps in Instruments panel not working?

The most likely cause of this is your Browser security / cookie settings.

If you have blocked third party cookies in your browser settings, the apps hosted in the Instruments panel will not have access to broswer features (e.g. localStorage) that they may need to operate.

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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 ../api/resources/tracks path to be available on the Signal K server with support for HTTP GET, PUT, POST and DELETE operations.

You can configure the Resource Provider plug-in to provision the ../api/resources/tracks path by:

1. Go to the Server / Plugin Config menu
2. Expand the Resource Provider (built-in) section
3. In Resources (Custom) add a new Resource Type
4. Enter tracks into the text box.
5. Click Submit.

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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