Enhanced tactical symbology for command and control of ground forces

Abstract

This thesis is directed at the design and evaluation of "enhanced" ground-force map symbology. Enhanced symbology differs from conventional in that enhanced symbols quantify and clarify information on particular units such as combat effectiveness, personnel strength, equipment density and logistics readiness, A variety of design properties compiled from several sources that should be considered when fashioning a new military symbol group is discussed with special emphasis on reducing the negative effects of clutter. A suggested symbol set is developed for support of tactical decision-making and for display on computer graphics systems. The performance of this symbology is then evaluated through an experiment designed to compare the process of quickly and easily solving tactical problems with the enhanced decision aids versus the conventional. An analysis of the experiment results indicates that a commander can reach a tactical decision faster using enhanced symbology.