Phaser.io - Load objects from Tiled - phaser-framework

Question

I'm new to phaser, and for the past few days I've been trying to make a really simple game, platformer-style, where the player must navigate to certain areas before being able to exit the level.
I have the basics running, but now I can't seem to figure out how to check if the player is in those areas.
The relevant part of the code so far is as follows:
var game = new Phaser.Game(800, 600, Phaser.AUTO, "mygame", {
preload: preload,
create: create,
update: update,
render: render
});
function preload() {
game.load.tilemap("questMap", "assets/quest.json", null, Phaser.Tilemap.TILED_JSON);
game.load.image("tilesheet", "assets/tilesheet.png");
game.load.image("npc", "assets/npc.png");
game.load.spritesheet("player", "assets/player.png", 64, 64);
}
var map;
var tileset;
var groundBg;
var props;
var houses;
var houseProps;
var npc;
var ground;
var areas;
var player;
function create() {
game.physics.startSystem(Phaser.Physics.ARCADE);
game.stage.backgroundColor = "#A8DBFF";
map = game.add.tilemap("questMap");
map.addTilesetImage("tilesheet");
map.addTilesetImage("npc");
ground = map.createLayer("ground");
groundBg = map.createLayer("groundbg");
props = map.createLayer("props");
houses = map.createLayer("houses");
houseProps = map.createLayer("houseprops");
npc = map.createLayer("npc");
map.setCollisionBetween(1, 5000);
ground.resizeWorld();
Not too pretty, I know.
I've created the map with tiled and there are a lot of small props and decorative tiles, hence the multiple "map.createLayer()" calls. The only one with collision is the ground layer.
Now, on my Tiled file, I've created an Object layer and drawn small rectangles on the areas I want to check if the player is in. I thought this was going to be an easy process but I can't seem to figure out how to load those areas into Phaser, and then check if the player is within bounds.
Googling has given me some results, but none seem to fit, as they usually cover how to add a sprite to an object, which in this case does not apply.
I simply need that small area to exist and check if the player is there. I've also given names to each of those rectangles in Tiled, via the custom properties tab.

Answer 1

I would try using a transparent image as the area you wish to check if your sprite is over and use
if(sprite1.overlap(transparentImage)){
//do something
}