signalk-restricted-areas

A Signal K server plugin that serves marine restricted-area data (anchoring prohibitions, fishing closures, entry/transit restrictions, …) from the ProtectedSeas Navigator dataset to chart clients — primarily Freeboard-SK — via the Signal K Resources API, and performs server-side geofencing that emits Signal K notifications when your vessel approaches or enters a restricted zone.

⚠️ Not for navigation or legal compliance. This is summary data and may be incomplete, inaccurate, or out of date. It is not a legal document. Always verify against official sources before relying on it. See Attribution & disclaimer.

What it does

• Resource layer for Freeboard-SK. Publishes restricted-area polygons (with per-activity restriction attributes and severity styling) on the custom resource path restricted-areas, consumable as a selectable layer.
• Server-side geofence notifications. Watches navigation.position (with COG/SOG look-ahead) and raises notifications.navigation.restrictedArea.<id> when you approach or enter a zone whose monitored activities are restricted/prohibited. Works for any client on the Signal K stream — not just Freeboard.
• Offline-first. The dataset lives on the boat after a one-time download. Only dataset updates need connectivity; everything else works offline.

Install

Install from the Signal K App Store (search "restricted areas"), or manually:

cd ~/.signalk/node_modules
npm install signalk-restricted-areas

Then enable and configure it in Server → Plugin Config → Restricted Areas.

Configuration

| Option | Default | Meaning | |---|---|---| | Regions | ["sw-pacific"] | Ocean-basin region(s) to load. Load only the basin(s) you sail. | | Minimum LFP | 0 | Hide zones below this Level of Fishing Protection (0 = show all). | | Geofence → enabled | true | Emit proximity notifications. | | Geofence → alertOn | ["anchoring","entry"] | Activities that raise an alarm. (fishing etc. are opt-in.) | | Geofence → approach radius | 1852 m (1 NM) | Distance at which an "approaching" alert fires. | | Geofence → look-ahead | 600 s | COG projection horizon for approach detection. | | Auto-update | true | Periodically check the data repo for a newer dataset. |

Restriction codes follow the Navigator convention: prohibited (hard ban), restricted (conditional), allowed, or unknown.

Freeboard-SK setup

1. In Freeboard, open Settings → Resources → Paths and enable restricted-areas.
2. Open the layers menu and select the restricted-area resource set(s) you want shown. Sets are split by severity (prohibited / restricted / info) so you can toggle each.
3. Polygons render with severity styling; click one for its name, summary, source links, and attribution.

Data

Regional extracts are produced by the companion pipeline restricted-areas-data and published as GitHub Release assets (FlatGeobuf). The plugin downloads and verifies the region(s) you configure into its data directory.

Jurisdictional/EEZ polygons, high-seas RFMO overlays, and ocean-basin-scale areas without a hard transit ban are excluded upstream — they are not anchoring/entry restrictions and would otherwise flood you with false notifications.

Attribution & disclaimer

Data: ProtectedSeas Navigator, licensed CC BY 4.0. Each dataset release records its Navigator extract date (datasetDate in the release manifest.json); the date of your installed dataset is shown in the plugin's configuration screen and status line in the Signal K Admin UI, so you always know the release date of the data you are using.

• Zetterlind, V. et al. (2025). Navigator — a global database of verified marine protected and managed area regulations and boundaries. Scientific Data, 12, 1212. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05535-2
• The ProtectedSeas Navigator Map of Conservation Regulations, ProtectedSeas®, https://map.navigatormap.org
• Navigator Data Download, ProtectedSeas®, https://navigatormap.org/data-request

This is summary data and may be incomplete, inaccurate, or out of date. It is not a legal or compliance document. Provided "as-is". Always verify against official sources before relying on it for navigation or compliance.

License

Apache-2.0 (plugin code). The Navigator data is CC BY 4.0 (see above).