UEI features
You can create unit, equipment, and installation (UEI) features in ArcGIS using military feature templates stored in layer files. Not all UEI features are available as feature templates, so for those, you can Define new types of UEI features.
MIL-STD-2525C tactical symbols
Command and Control (C2) Tactical Symbols, as specified in MIL-STD-2525C, represent units, equipment, or installations. They present information that can be pinpointed in one location at a particular point in time. In MIL-STD-2525C terms, a fully displayed tactical symbol is composed of a frame, fill, and icon. It may include text and/or graphic modifiers that provide additional information. ArcGIS supports this information by using style files that contain the different components such as frames with a fill and icon in addition to grahic modifiers. The size and shape of a symbol are fixed and remain constant, regardless of the scale of the background projection, unless changed by the operator. The frame attributes (standard identity, battle dimension, and status) determine the type of frame for a given symbol. Fill color is a redundant indication of the symbol's standard identity, with blue representing friendly, red representing hostile, green representing neutral, and yellow representing unknown.
UEI features in ArcGIS
UEI marker symbols are composed of one or more symbol layers that show the frames and fills. Additional symbol layers provide information about each symbol's identity, battle dimension, status, and mission.
Prior to creating a UEI feature, you may need to define a new feature template with the appropriate drawing symbol. The components used to draw a UEI feature are stored as individual marker symbols in style files. The style files that store the C2 UEI marker symbols can be accessed through the ArcGIS Style Manager.
Learn how to define new types of military features
UEI styles and marker symbols
C2 UEI style files are installed with ArcGIS that store marker symbols used by UEI features. These files are organized according to the battle dimension of the symbols they contain. For instance, the C2 UEI Air Track style file contains all the unit, equipment, and installation marker symbols that belong to the Air battle dimension. All the unit, equipment, and installation marker symbols that have a battle dimension of Air (A), Sea Surface (S), Space (P), Special Operations (A), or Subsurface (U) are organized into designated ArcGIS styles that corresponds to the symbol's battle dimension. Symbols that belong to the Ground (G) battle dimension are divided into three different styles, one for ground units, one for ground equipment, and one for ground installations.
Additionally, ArcGIS includes styles that contain symbols found in appendices D, E, and G of MIL-STD-2525C.
Learn more about symbols and style files
The table below lists the MIL-STD-2525C symbol sets and the corresponding ArcGIS style where those marker symbols can be found.
MIL-STD-2525C symbol set | ArcGIS style file |
|---|---|
Appendix A - C2 Symbology: Units, equipment, and installations | C2 UEI Air Track C2 UEI Ground Track Equipment C2 UEI Ground Track Installations C2 UEI Ground Track Units C2 UEI Sea Surface Track C2 UE Space Track C2 UEI Special Operations Track C2 UEI Subsurface Track |
Appendix D - Signals intelligence | Signals Intelligence |
Appendix E - Stability operations | Stability Operations |
Appendix G - Emergency management | Military Emergency Management |
To explore the contents of a C2 UEI style in ArcMap, click the Styles button on the right hand side of the Style Manger window to open the Style References window. The Style Reference window displays a list of styles that were installed with ArcGIS, including the C2 UEI style files. To turn on a style, click the check box next to it and click OK.
In the Style Manager window, you can access all the marker symbols available for a UEI style. Each marker symbol has a unique value in the Name and Tags field. The Name field for a UEI marker symbol corresponds to the name of a tactical symbol in the military standard. The single letter at the end of the marker symbol Name indicates the standard identity (F- Friendly, H- Hostile, N- Neutral, U- Unknown). The Tags field stores a list of terms related to each symbol.
In the Symbol Selector search field, you can search for UEI marker symbols using a term, such as "launched." This search will return each marker symbol that has a "launched" tag in its Tags field. From the Symbol Selector you can edit properties of a marker symbol, such as size.
