Signal K Charts Provider Simple

A lightweight, JavaScript-based Signal K server plugin for managing local nautical charts. This plugin provides a clean interface for organizing, uploading, and serving MBTiles.

Features

• Local Chart Management: Support for MBTiles
• Download Manager: Built-in download queue with progress tracking and automatic ZIP extraction
• Modern Web UI: Clean, Material Design 3 interface with drag-and-drop chart organization
• Chart Organization: Folder-based organization with enable/disable toggles
• Dual API Support: Compatible with both Signal K v1 and v2 API

Installation

From Signal K Appstore

1. Open your Signal K server admin interface
2. Navigate to Appstore
3. Search for "Charts Provider Simple"
4. Click Install

Manual Installation

cd ~/.signalk
npm install signalk-charts-provider-simple

Configuration

1. Navigate to Server → Plugin Config → Charts Provider Simple
2. Set your chart directory path (defaults to ~/.signalk/charts-simple)
3. Enable the plugin
4. Restart Signal K server

Usage

Web Interface

Access the plugin's web interface through your Signal K server:

http://[your-server]:3000/plugins/signalk-charts-provider-simple/

The interface provides two main tabs:

1. Manage Charts:

   • View all charts in your library with chart names displayed from MBTiles metadata
   • View chart metadata (name, description, bounds, zoom levels, tile count, etc.)
   • Edit chart names directly in MBTiles files (personal use only)
   • Enable/disable charts
   • Organize charts into folders
   • Upload new chart files
   • Delete unwanted charts
   • Rename chart files

2. Download from URL:

   • Download charts directly from any URL
   • Supports .mbtiles files and .zip archives
   • Automatic extraction of MBTiles from ZIP files
   • Download queue with progress tracking
   • Simple, clean interface without complex chart browsing

Chart Formats

The plugin supports this chart formats:

• MBTiles (.mbtiles): SQLite-based map tile format

Compatible Chart Plotters

Charts provided by this plugin work with:

• Freeboard SK
• OpenCPN

Legal Notice

Chart Metadata Editing

This plugin includes a feature to edit chart metadata (chart names) in MBTiles files. This feature is intended for personal use only.

Important:

• The Signal K community is not responsible for any illegal use of this feature
• Modified charts are automatically marked with "USER MODIFIED - DO NOT DISTRIBUTE - PERSONAL USE ONLY" in the description field
• Do not distribute modified charts - this may violate copyright laws
• Use this feature responsibly and only for organizing your personal chart library

Requirements

• Node.js 22 LTS (recommended) - prebuilt binaries available for all platforms
• Node.js 24+: May require manual installation of build tools (Visual Studio Build Tools on Windows, build-essential on Linux)

Acknowledgments

Inspired by Signal K Charts Plugin by Mikko Vesikkala.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Support

For issues and feature requests:

• GitHub Issues: https://github.com/dirkwa/signalk-charts-provider-simple/issues