Tom Mouat has produced current NATO map symbols as a font set called MapSymbs which is in fact used by NATO member countries. Popular Logistics editor and artist/animator/engineer Garry Osgood (Particular Art; site under construction) is currently experimenting with the construction of an icon set to be used as tools for planning and communication for disaster planning, modeling, and response. Initial efforts – since our focus is on social networks – is to use the conventions of the Universal Markup Language. [Because it’s not a “web-safe” font, the following images are not taken directly from MapSymbs.

More – including sample images – after the jump.

MapSymbs installs easily under Windows (a Mac converter is provided for Mac users).

Mouat has also written other related applications:

OpWrite – a normal writing to military Operational Writing text converter macro, ExHelp – a Windows HelpFile on designing large scale military training exercises, ExHelp Resources – Sample incident lists and other Resources to go with ExHelp, Basic Battle Skills – A Windows HelpFile Military Training Game, LOAC Help – A Windows HelpFile on the Law of Armed Conflict (including a test), and more.

Mouat’s Links Page is an extraordinary collection of geographic, graphic, military iconography resources.

Further:

Selected image gallery:

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Excerpted from Wikipedia’s explanation of NATO APP6-A. :

APP-6A, Military Symbols for Land Based Systems was the NATO

standard for military map marking symbols. APP-6A was promulgated in December 1999. The NATO standardization agreement that covers APP-6A is STANAG

2019 (edition 4), promulgated in December 2000. APP-6A replaced APP-6 (last version, July 1986), which had been promulgated in November 1984 (edition 3 of STANAG 2019 covered APP-6), and was replaced in turn by APP-6B in 2008. The U.S. is the current custodian of APP-6A. The initialism APP (pronounced “a-pee-pee”) stands for Allied Procedural Publication.

APP-6A’s American sister standard is MIL-STD-2525A, Common Warfighting Symbology ; the contents are essentially identical, but MIL-STD-2525 has been evolving faster than NATO’s APP-6. MIL-STD-2525 was issued in September 1994, MIL-STD-2525A in December 1996, MIL-STD-2525A Change 1 in July 1997, MIL-STD-2525B in January 1999, MIL-STD-2525B Change 1 in July 2005, MIL-STD-2525B Change 2 in March 2007, and MIL-STD-2525C in November 2008. APP-6A is considerably different from APP-6, while the successive versions of MIL-STD-2525 more or less maintain continuity. APP-6B seems to be a subset of MIL-STD-2525C.

The APP-6A standard provides common operational symbology along with details on their display and plotting to ensure the compatibility, and to the greatest extent possible, the interoperability of NATO Land Component Command, Control, Communications, Computer, and Intelligence (C4I) systems, development, operations, and training. APP-6A addresses the efficient transmission of symbology information through the use of a standard methodology for symbol hierarchy, information taxonomy, and symbol identifiers.

These symbols are designed to enhance NATO’s joint interoperability by providing a standard set of common symbols. APP-6A constitutes a single system of joint military symbology for land based formations and units, which can be displayed for either automated map display systems or for manual map marking. It covers all of the joint services and can be used by them.