map.army FAQ — Common Questions Answered

This article includes some of the most common questions on the web application we have received since the start of the project.

Technical

Some of the most common technical question we get from users are:

Can the web application map.army run on a closed network?

Yes, it is possible to deploy the web application including the backend services on a closed network. The deployment runs on a standard web stack and is not Windows-specific — Linux + Apache (LAMP) is a supported alternative for organisations that prefer it. Specific OS and integration requirements (Active Directory, existing GIS server, WMTS/WMS providers) are scoped during the project intake. If you are interested in such a setup contact us via the contact form or email.

Is it possible to run map.army offline?

No, this is not possible to run the web application offline.
However, it is possible to deploy the web application including the backend services on a closed system. MSS (Military Symbol Service) and MilX (Military Exchange Service) has been deployed in several offline systems starting from simple map tools to C2, C4I or large military simulation applications. This deployment is usually done together with an industry partner or directly as a project with a governmental institution.

For individual users, the Windows desktop applications MssDraw and MssComposer by gs-soft AG provide a fully offline workflow for drawing and composing military situations. MssDraw additionally supports converting .milxlyz files to .kmz for use in Google Earth or ESRI Earth — useful for sharing a finished map with stakeholders who don’t have map.army. The web app itself does not currently offer this conversion direction. Contact us via the contact form or email for details.

Is there a professional or paid version of map.army?

Yes. A professional offering (sometimes referred to as map.army pro) is available on a project basis for industry partners and government customers. It adds capabilities not present in the free hosted demo, including:

  • Timeline & unit animation — units automatically follow planned routes between waypoints, with playback controls.
  • Blue Force Tracking (BFT) — real-time position sharing for participating units.
  • User administration & logins — multi-user collaboration with permissions.
  • Custom WMTS / WMS base maps — configurable map providers, including private / on-premise tile servers.

The pro version is not publicly sold or self-service. Contact us via the contact form or email to discuss requirements.

Can map.army show participants’ GPS positions in real time?

Not in the free hosted version. The browser can plot your own position (one-shot or continuous) via the standard browser geolocation API if you grant permission, but there is no shared “blue force tracking” in the hosted app — your position is not relayed to other participants, and external GPS devices (SIM trackers, hardware beacons) cannot push their position into the map.

Real-time multi-user position sharing (BFT) and external-device integration are part of the map.army pro offering and require a project-scoped deployment — see the professional or paid version answer above.

Is the hosted map.army monitored, and are maintenance windows announced?

Yes. Planned maintenance is announced in-app before the window starts and typically affects only a few minutes of partial availability — there is no separate public status page or mailing list to subscribe to.

Unplanned outages (hardware failure, upstream incident) do happen and are not announced in advance. If your work depends on uninterrupted availability, plan for it: save your work to .milxlyz regularly (see Layers → Export Overlays) and consider a closed-network deployment if you need controlled SLAs (see Can the web application map.army run on a closed network? above).

Can I change the symbol of a feature after importing a KML layer and converting it to MilX?

Currently the symbol assigned during the KML → MilX conversion cannot be changed inside the application. KML href icon references are not preserved on import — each converted feature gets a generic base symbol. If you need different base symbols for a converted layer, contact us via the contact form or email; we can adjust the base symbols manually as part of a project workflow.

What technology is used to build map.army?

For development we are using Angular (TypeScript). However, most of the ‘brain’ of the application is based in services which are accessed via REST or SOAP. This includes the Military Symbology where the web application relays on the MSS (Military Symbol Service) and MilX (Military Exchange Service) Web Services.
You can find the full list of technologies used on the Copyright & Licenses page.

Can MSS (Military Symbol Service) and MilX (Military Exchange Service) Web Services be used by others?

Yes, we have a growing list of industry partners developing in many different environments who are basing for the implementation of Military Symbology into their system on MSS and MilX. This includes developers of simple map tools to C2, C4I or large simulation applications. If you require more information contact us via the contact form or email.

General Questions

On a regular bases are asked the following:

Who is developing map.army?

The web application including the backend services for rendering and exchanging military symbology is being developed by gs-soft AG .

Why do you develop map.army?

The goal of developing the web applications hosted on map.army and symbol.army is to showcase what is possible using the latest development technologies available. In addition, we use the web applications as a test environment to bring our solution and especially the backend services to all type of devices and operating systems.
We see this as well as an opportunity to constantly improve our backend services (MSS - Military Symbol Service) and MilX (Military Exchange Format) which are used by many industry partners to provide military symbology and the version independent exchange of military symbology between systems.

Is the web application on map.army a free alternative to military applications as SitaWare, ArcGIS or Luciad?

Yes, we are hosing the web applications on map.army and symbol.army for free for everyone to learn and train the use of military symbology. However, we do not see us as competitors of these large and expensive systems

What is the main difference between ATAK (CivTAK) and map.army?

Map.army is a demo project to showcase the Military Symbology Services and Military Exchange Services developed by gs-soft AG. The web application focusing on operational planning (OP) and after action review (AAR) with the goal to run on any device. Map.army demonstrates the interoperability of products generated in the web application with command and control systems (C2, C3, C4I, …), training simulators or other planning software in an existing defense environment.
ATAK/CivTAK, WinTAK, WebTAK and TAKServer (collectively, TAK) is a set of geospatial collaboration tools. The standalone system is developed by US DoD funded companies and provides functionalities for the mission command for units and teams which allows for precision targeting, intelligence on surrounding land formations, navigation, and generalized situational awareness.

Can map.army exchange data with ATAK / CivTAK / WinTAK?

There is no reliable MilX ↔ ATAK exchange path today. KMZ export from map.army (via MssDraw — see the offline answer above) can be opened in Google Earth and ESRI Earth, but ATAK clients consume KMZ only partially and the military symbology gets degraded or lost in the round-trip. We are watching this area; if you have a specific interoperability scenario please contact us via the contact form so it can inform future work.

Can I use map.army with a custom or fictional map background (e.g. for a wargame or roleplaying scenario)?

Yes. map.army can render any image as a background layer via the Image Overlay feature — see “Import Layer” in the Layers section. Common use cases include scanned campaign maps, historical maps, and fictional-nation maps for hobby/roleplaying purposes. A few practical notes:

  • Source images need to be a reasonable size — very large single images may fail to render on some browsers; split into tiles if needed.
  • Custom backgrounds do not replace the underlying georeferenced map; they sit on top of it as a layer. To remove the underlying base map’s POI markers, switch the Style to OpenTopoMap in Options → Map Settings.
  • Image overlay layers are not embedded inside .milxlyz exports; share the image file separately if you need to share the layer with someone else.

For more advanced base-map customisation (e.g. swapping the underlying WMTS/WMS provider) see the professional version question above.

Can I use, modify, or redistribute the military symbols and map exports?

Yes, within sensible limits:

  • MIL-STD-2525 / MSS symbols displayed in map.army are owned by gs-soft AG. They may be used freely in personal, educational, commercial, and non-profit work — no formal attribution notice is required for individual symbols (e.g. when pasted into a document or presentation).
  • map.army map exports (PDF, georeferenced image) automatically include a small copyright / attribution label in the bottom-right corner of the rendered map. This label must remain visible when the export is published; do not crop or paint over it.
  • iframe embeds of map.army carry the same attribution by design.
  • Modifications to individual symbols (recolouring, scaling, combining with other graphics in a separate drawing tool) are permitted. Redistributing the entire symbol set as a stand-alone product is not.
  • For uses that don’t fit these defaults — for example publishing a derived symbol library, or licensing the symbology into another product — contact us via the contact form.