Military feature templates

A military feature template is an ArcGIS feature template with built-in military characteristics. The military characteristics are based on the military symbology specifications supported by ArcGIS.

Many military feature templates, such as those for infantry platoons and main attack arrows, were created for you and are provided in military feature layer packages created by Esri and posted to ArcGIS.com.

It is important that you start with these layer packages anytime you want to add military features to a map, because the packages contain rules to make symbols adhere to the military symbol specifications supported by ArcGIS. For example, the packages contain pre-defined label properties that tell ArcGIS things like where to position each type of label (text modifier) around the feature and which labels should be visible by default.

Use the table in Opening military feature layer packages to determine which layer package has the feature templates you need.

What military feature templates are in the Military Overlay layer package?

If you are unsure of which military feature layer package to start with, start with the Military Overlay layer package, because it contains nearly all feature templates produced by Esri for the defense and intelligence community. All other military feature layer packages contain a subset of the layers in the Military Overlay package.

The Military Overlay layer package contains feature templates for the following military features:

• All C2 military operations features in the supported specifications, such as axis of advance main attack.
• Some units, equipment, and installations (UEI) features, such as a generic infantry platoon unit. You can create any military feature that isn't provided as a feature template in the layer packages. For details, see Define new types of UEI features. The reason Esri did not create a layer package that contains all UEI features is due to the large number of them that would be required. Because the military specifications allow for so many combinations (for example, combinations of type/affiliation, unit size, and status), providing one of each is impractical, not only for Esri, but for users as well. For example, there are thousands of unit types alone.
• Features from other categories in the supported specifications, such as meteorological and oceanographic (METOC), emergency management, signals intelligence, and stability operations features.

Feature template scenario

One military feature template provided in the Military Overlay layer package is the Infantry Platoon template. If you want to add several infantry platoon symbols that have some of the same attribute values—such as the same higher formation of Bravo company—you would first type Bravo company into the Higher Formation attribute field of the Infantry Platoon template (right-click the feature template and click Properties, or click the Attributes button on the Editor toolbar to dock the Attributes window in your ArcMap window). Next, you would add several infantry platoons to your map, one at a time, by clicking the Infantry Platoon feature template in the feature template area, then clicking locations in your map, one for each platoon you want to add. If you supplied a value in one of the attribute fields, such as Bravo company in the Higher Formation field, each platoon you add will have Bravo company as its higher formation. You can edit each infantry platoon's attributes after you add it to the map to reflect its individual characteristics. A handy way to do this is to have Attributes window open so that you can change attribute values while the feature is still selected. For example, just after you add an infantry platoon to the map, in the Attributes window, you can type 1st Platoon in its name field to show on the map that this particular unit is the 1st platoon.

Additional notes about feature templates

You can think of Esri military feature layer packages as a way to make your job of adding military features to a map much easier than creating symbols from scratch. For example, the packages:

• Contain pre-built feature templates that you can drag and drop onto your map or customize before adding to your map.
• Have a geodatabase schema that contains a table structure that adheres to military specifications. Each military feature template is tied to the appropriate ArcGIS layer type (point, line, or polygon). In this way, the one-to-one relationship between feature templates and ArcGIS layers is handled for you. Feature templates let you focus on adding features instead of concerning yourself with which layer is selected or which layer a feature must go in due to ArcGIS layer-type requirements.
• Let you quickly add multiple similar features to a map, one after another. For example, if you want to add five infantry platoons to your map, instead of creating each feature from scratch, you can click the infantry platoon feature template, click on the map in the five areas you want to add the platoons, then edit attributes for the individual platoons to reflect their specific characteristics. For example, you'll likely want to edit the Unique Designation field value for each platoon to give each platoon a unique name.

Feature templates can be stored in map documents as well as layer packages.