Vessel Classes

ArgoRoute depth areas around Split and Kaštela Bay in Croatia for a vessel of 2 m draught: water shallower than 2 m in red, shallower than 4 m in amber, the rest shaded by depth with isobaths — Split and Kaštela Bay as a 2 m draught sees them. The same tiles re-colour instantly for any draught; the routing graph applies the identical rule, cell by cell.

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Draught Filtering

At every step the A* search asks one question of the cell's 16-bit depth: is it deeper than the draught plus the under-keel margin? If not, the cell is a wall. A cell with no bathymetry at all is also refused for any positive draught — no data is not deep.

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Draught-Aware Snapping

A pin snaps to the nearest cell deep enough for the vessel — and one it can actually leave. A deep pocket ringed by shoals is not a departure point, so the engine checks the way out before it starts, and never snaps a pin across land to find deeper water on the other side.

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Canals Decide Themselves

Suez carries its published 20.1 m, Panama 15.2 m, Kiel 9.5 m, Corinth 7.3 m. A ship that fits takes the canal; one that does not is routed around — Rotterdam to Singapore is 8,887 nm through Suez and 12,585 nm round the Cape. Beam is not modelled yet; at Corinth, beam is the binding limit.

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ArgoRoute implements the CE design categories A to D alongside commercial profiles, with consumer-friendly aliases for apps. Each class sets a default draught, a shore clearance and the offshore distance it was designed for; any of them can be overridden per request.

Class	Aliases	Max safe offshore (nm = nautical mile, 1852 m)	Default draught	Shore buffer	Routing behaviour
Category D cat_d	day_boat, sheltered, small	2.0 nm	0.8 m	0.3 nm	Strong coastal hugging. Skiffs, tenders, day boats in sheltered bays.
Category C cat_c	inshore, motorboat, leisure	5.0 nm	1.2 m	0.5 nm	Coastal hugging. Inshore powerboats within sight of land and storm refuge.
Category B cat_b	yacht, offshore, cruiser	60.0 nm	2.2 m	1.0 nm	Seaworthy hybrid. Offshore sailing yachts, island hops and open-sea legs.
Category A cat_a	ocean_yacht, passage, ocean	Unlimited	3.0 m	1.5 nm	Direct ocean. Self-sufficient transoceanic voyages.
Commercial ferry commercial_ferry	ferry, passenger	Port to port	4.5 m	2.0 nm	Direct, snapped to the nearest port at both ends.
Commercial cargo commercial_cargo	cargo, tanker, container	Port to port	12.0 m	3.0 nm	Direct, deep water and official ports only.

Risk, not refusal. A Category D skiff asking for a route across the Adriatic still gets one — with a risk level of ExtremeHazard, the offshore distance it would reach, and plain-language advisories about VHF range and storm refuge. The decision stays with the skipper; the information does not get hidden behind a 404.