[aprssig] spaces in object names (meaning AT LAST!)

[Bob Bruninga]

AH!  Now we are getting to the crux of the problem!  And it is the fact that clients think that just putting "icons" on a map is all that APRS is about.  

I have begged, I have pleaded, I have groveled to get authors to display APRS symbols PROPERLY!  This means every symbol has EIGHT ATTRIBUTES which must be displayed on ALL MAPS to properly convey the APRS situation.  One such attribute is OWNERSHIP!  

WHITE were two-way message capable
GRAY were one way not-message capable
PURPLE were other peoples OBJECTS
YELLOW were your own objects
CYAN were dead reckoned or more than 1 minute old
etc...

Please see www.aprs.org/symbols.html

There was never any question in the design of APRS even to the most casual observer of the virtual situation as to what was an object, what was a station, WHO owned it at any instant, what was fresh, what was old, and what you could comunicate with!!!  That was all lost with WinAPRS and all subsequent implementations that ignored this fundamenal HUMAN INTERFACE and used simplistic ICONS.

EVERY client that uses simple ICONS fails in this regard.  Without the original 8 attributes displayed on every symbol (I used COLORS but I agreed to allow authors to use ANY discriminant they want, but the attributes MUST be displayed).  But this has been ignored.  Hence the present problem.   Some Authors say that you can CLICK on the object and learn these attributes... BAH.. when I have 300 symbols on my map I cannot keep clicking on each one to see what it means!  While people are aound me are demanding info...

AUthors must learn that they cannot cherrypick just easy things in APRS just to put things on maps and then ignore all the other fundamentals!

So, Pete, I now say you are *right* in your perception that not only must these flags be maintained on each symbol, but they must be visibile at all times!  Your point is clear here!!!  Stations and Objects and Ownership must be preserved... and ALSO displayed...

The EXCLUSIVINESS of a NAME (the present topic) is a separate subject...

SO... commenting on your email:

> The protocol has built into it the very basis 
> of all tactical communications...
>
> Show me what my active entities...
> Show me what are created entities...

And that was fundamental to APRS design in the COLOR of the symbol when displayed on the map.

> Where the implementation of APRS has failed 
> IMO is to disregard the second statement and 
> make it possible for me to not know what my 
> active entities are because someone just 
> usurped them with created objects.

Yes!  We agree, I am jumping in the streets!

But the failure is in the implementaion of CLIENTS that do not maintain or display ON EVERY SYMBOL the attribute of ownership!  It is not a failure of the protocol, but of simplistic use of ICONS inplace of multidimensional symbols!

In my above web page, I have shown how with a simple COLOR background, even ICONS can convey these color attributes.  ANd I agree with you, without this visible knowledge, then the TAKE-OVER-MOVE-UPDATE-PREEMPT-STEAL-CHANGE-KILL fundamentals of APRS based on NAME are problematic to the user...

But we must be able to do this as a distributed group, or APRS fails in its original design to be the virtual distributed display system for the real-time tactical situation.

Bob, WB4APR