Representing tactical land navigation expertise

Abstract

Tactical land navigation is a very important, but extremely difficult task performed daily by small unit leaders. In an effort to find ways to develop expertise more efficiently, a detailed description of expert performance is presented and contrasted with novice and intermediate performance. This definition fits the Recognition Primed Decision model of human cognitive behavior. Then, through use of the Critical Decision Method of knowledge elicitation, interviews with experts at the U. S. Army Special Forces Qualification Course formed the basis of a detailed cognitive model of expert tactical land navigation. Four important characteristics of experts emerge: (1) they rely on high-fidelity mental maps; (2) they blend multiple cues; (3) they adjust and recalibrate tools dynamically; and (4) they visualize spatial information. Finally, a multi-agent system computationally represents the route planning portion of the performance model.