[aprssig] APRS Situational Awareness

[Cap Pennell]

The ICS symbols would mostly be used on printed local maps during emergency
incidents in North America.  The public safety government employees view
these maps.  They are generated and updated for distribution as part of the
IAP (Incident Action Plan) paperwork handout at each incident operational
period's personnel briefing, as the public safety personnel undertake their
emergency suppression work.

As you can see, they're mostly blue-colored circles or squares overlaid with
a upper case letter character.  Here (if this comes through) they are as a
TrueType Font for the document editor, ICS Symbols.ttf :
S T B H A B F G H I JK  L P R T X
a b c  l  t

I'll consider it some more, later on.  Thanks. 73, Cap
BTW, the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) has some interesting
information online.  The FGDC Homeland Security Working Group including
Federal, State, and local agencies is an interagency committee that promotes
the coordinated development, use, sharing, and dissemination of geospatial
data on a national basis.  They have a F.A.Q. at
http://www.fgdc.gov/HSWG/ref_pages/SymbolFAQ_ref.htm where they show:
"5) You use some of the Incident Command System symbols but not all of them.
Why? 
The ICS symbols are not a standard but in common usage among certain groups
of the response community, primarily agencies involved in wildland fire
fighting. They can be found in the Field Operations Guides (FOGs) of these
groups. The common symbols are generally consistent between groups, but
there are variations. For instance, the Coast Guard FOG contains some oil
spill and wildlife symbols that the fire groups do not have. 
 The ICS symbols in this standard that deviate from ICS practices are that
way due to a guiding principal of the Symbol Subgroup: avoid numbers and
letters in the symbols. This was meant to improve the intuitiveness of the
symbols and increase their usefulness for international applications and
support. The main exception to this rule is the use of an H in the hospital
symbol. 
ICS symbols can still resemble existing usage and conform to the standard by
using the correct opaque shape (Infrastructure/rectangle, Operations/circle,
etc.) and annotating the symbol as desired. 
 Some ICS symbols, such as Incident Command Center, remain unchanged, but
are framed in accordance with their Category (in this case, a circle for
Operations)."

> -----Original Message-----
> From: aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org
> [mailto:aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org]On Behalf Of Robert Bruninga
> Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 20:33 PM
> To: 'TAPR APRS Mailing List'
> Subject: RE: [aprssig] APRS Situational Awareness
> 
> 
> Cap,
> 
> Im nost sure where all that ICS list of symbols is used, but
> would you like to make a list of them and their APRS
> equivalents?
>   Ill add it to my symbols web page.
> Bob , WB4APR
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org 
> > [mailto:aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org] On Behalf Of Cap
> Pennell
> > Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 6:17 PM
> > To: TAPR APRS Mailing List
> > Subject: RE: [aprssig] APRS Situational Awareness
> > 
> > Here's a much smaller image displaying the ICS map symbols.
> > http://tinyurl.com/5tmbhc
> > 
> > or (same, but using longer URL):
> > http://gis.nwcg.gov/giss_2006/job_aids/maps_and_graphics/ICS_D
> > igital_Symbols
> > _Ver2.jpg
> > 73, Cap
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