General Options — Language, Work Mode, Units

This section describes the settings and options of map.army .

Overview

The Options window is divided into five sections: General, Map Settings, Map Tools, Map Coord and Symbol Format. The general section contains all of the global application settings of map.army .

General settings and options

Language

The application language can be set via selection. The following UI languages are currently supported: Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and Thai. The language setting is used for both the application user interface and the military icons.

Work Mode

The generator supports international symbols according to MIL-STD-2525. This is the standard working mode. The “Extended” mode includes the symbols used in Switzerland. This includes the symbols according to MIL-STD-2525 as well as the country-specific symbols that are defined in the various regulations and military standards.

Extended also includes civil-protection symbology — police, fire-rescue, and civil-emergency symbols following the Swiss police symbology standard (Polizei — Führung im Polizeieinsatz). These categories are visible in the gallery only in Extended mode.

Hint: Some symbols are only available in one work mode — the extended Swiss symbols (military and civil), for example, only appear in Extended. If a symbol you used before seems to be missing from the gallery, check whether the Work Mode has changed.
Hint: Save before switching Work Mode. Modifier text and amplifying labels you entered on existing symbols may not carry over when switching between Standard and Extended. Export your layer to .milxlyz (see Layers → Export Overlays) before changing Work Mode so you can re-import if anything is lost.
Hint: The working modes are compatible to meet the requirements of the Multilateral Interoperability Program (MIP).

When you select the military symbols, detailed information is displayed.

Show Hints in Symbol Editor

When you select a modifier or attribute in the Symbol Editor, a tooltip with explanatory information is shown. This is the editor-side counterpart to Show Hints in Symbol Gallery above — disable it once you no longer need the on-screen reminders.

MilX-Layer Advanced Settings

The advanced MilX layer settings include the option to convert the MilX layer to a different coordinate system and / or to an older MilX version before downloading it.

Reset notifications/messages

Resetting the saved actions for displayed dialogues, notifications and messages.

Tutorial

Re-opens the on-screen introduction that runs on first start — the short tour that points out the main-window buttons (Map Overlays, Add Symbol, Symbol Editor, Print & Export, Options). Use it to revisit the introduction yourself or to walk a colleague through the basics without leaving the application.

Unit settings

In this area you can set the units for distance and angle.

Settings for units

Distance Unit

You can choose between metric (meter as the base unit) and imperial (foot and mile as the base unit).

Angular Unit

Angles can be displayed in degrees (1 full circle = 360 °) or milliradians (1 full circle = 1000 milliradians).

Geo. Degree Format

Sets how geographic coordinates (latitude / longitude) are displayed throughout the application. The available formats are:

  • Decimal Degrees — e.g. 47.3769°
  • Degrees and Decimal Minutes — e.g. 47°22.614'
  • Degrees, Minutes, Seconds — e.g. 47°22'36.84"

The chosen format applies to the coordinate readout at the map cursor, to the Coordinate Search, and to the Point Editor. It is independent of the Coordinate Grid selected under Map Coord — the grid overlay (MGRS, UTM, …) is rendered on the map, while the Geo. Degree Format controls how WGS84 lat/long is printed in numeric readouts.