Military Symbol Generator for your Mobile Phone

It is now possible to create military symbols and tactical graphics with the web application 'Easy Symbol'. The attributes and modifiers can be set according to the definition in the MIL-STD-2525 standards using the MSS Symbol Editor. This editor supports visual editing and is therefore best compared to a symbol generator. The drawing and positioning of tactical graphics takes place in the N-Point Editor. It has specifically be designed for the task of customizing tactical graphics with more than one reference points.

The 'Easy Symbol' has been optimised to be used on small and large touch-screen devices such as tablets and mobile phones. The animation on the left shows how you can link the web application onto your home screen. This will enable you to start the app with a single click. This way of linking a web applications works for Android and iOS devices.

'Easy Symbol' is online

Unit Symbol in the Main Window of the 'Easy Symbol'

Edit Tab of MSS Symbol Editor in Easy Symbol

Preview Tab of MSS Symbol Editor in Easy Symbol

Technology is evolving at a rapid pace and "Software as a Service" (SaaS) establishes more and more as standard to seal and host functionalities. For this reason we have developed MSS Web Service as an R&D project. The service builds the base to our first web application the 'Easy Symbol'. The web application provides the functionality to create, save and share military symbols and tactical graphics.
The first release of the App is online now and described in details on the following page. It can also be launched directly via www.symbol.army. This is especially useful for mobile devices (tablet or mobile).

Add Drone Photos into MssDraw

Today it is easy to start a drone to take aerial photographs. This valuable reconnaissance information can now be added into the MssDraw application. Aerial photographs with a geo reference can be added as a map overlay with the help of the "Ortho-Photo Integration…" wizard.

This new function is valuable in the following use cases:

Integration of aerial images for areas with a poor quality of maps
Integration of aerial images after a natural disaster
Integrate current aerial photographs as additional reconnaissance information
...

The new function is supported from MssDraw version 03.01.09 and later. On the right hand side you find some example of Ortho-Photo overlays added this way.

Export Military Map to Tablets or Phones

Over the past months we have focused on the export of military map overlays to mobile devices. This function is part of the next version of MssDraw. The new export to mobile devices creates a file structure that can be loaded on common mobile operating systems without installing additional apps or services. The photos on the right show such exports loaded on supported devices…

Military Map Export on Android Mobile Phone

MssDraw - Improvement of Image Export

The entire image export in the MssDraw has been revised and improved. This has been done on the basis of direct user feedback. The export function supports new file formats as for example SVG. This provides the possibility to export entire military map overlays into a single SVG-File.

In addition it is possible to manually define the extent of an area, zoom level and the image resolution for every export. This is helpful in the planning phase to get a static situation overview.

Import of Custom Maps into MssDraw

On request of our international and national users we have developed a function to add custom maps into the MssDraw . This function is part of the next MssStick release. The new function allows the customer to add maps into a local storage. It supports the common formats for electronic maps and provides a fast and smooth map handling.

International MssStick Version

In the past weeks we have focused on the development of an international MssStick version. This was due to the increasing number of international requests for MssSticks.

The international version of MssDraw uses the map services of Bing Map and open Street View.
This version of MssDraw and MssComposer is using the international MssLibrary, which covers all the tactical graphics and symbols defined in the standards MIL-STD-2525C and APP-6B.
The galleries are designed to provide the most frequently used tactical graphics and symbols in a user-friendly way.

Platform independent Display of Military Maps

Thanks to the improved SVG and XAML export, it is newly possible to export military map overlays from MssDraw directly to GoogleMap. As already known from the GoogleEarth export individual or multiple layers can be selected and exported. The generated file resp. file structure can be opened afterwards in any web browser. This provides the export of layers on the following devices: IPhone, IPad, android phones and tablets as well as on Windows phones and tablets.

Hence the military map overlays created with the MssStick can be exported directly to a peripheral device which can be used platform independent. More information on this new feature will follow.

XAML and SVG export from military symbol editor

In the last weeks, the XAML and SVG exports of symbols and tactical graphics out of MSS^® (MSS Com Server) have been improved. XAML is a possible way to embed the MSS Com Server (MSS Symbol Generator) in a GIS system as for example into ARC GIS. The internal developments enable an optimized generation of the corresponding 1-point symbols resp. n-point tactical graphics.
Further information about the enhanced SVG-export and its platform independent use is presented in a next article.