M. St. John

this report was performed for the Collaborative Technologies Project Team (D44210) of the Simulation and Human System Technology Division (D44) of the Command and Control Department (D40) of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center by Pacific Science and Engineering Group, Inc., as Delivery Order 58 under contract N66001-96-D-0048. Funding was provided by the Office of Naval Research, Human Systems Department, under program element 0602233N. This report covers work from October 1998 to December 1999. Released by Collaborative Technologies Branch Under authority of Simulation and Human Systems Technology Division ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors would like to thank and acknowledge the following individuals who reviewed this report for technical accuracy: Dr. Robert Smillie and Mr. Orv Larson from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, San Diego; Dr. E. Sobo from the University of California at San Diego, and Mr. Mark Eddy and Dr. Dewey Kribs from Instructional Science and Development Inc. The authors would also like to acknowledge the programming assistance of Daniel Manes of Pacific Science and Engineering Group, Inc. iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Conventional tactical displays use nonrealistic two-dimensional (2-D) symbols to depict military assets. Prototypes of three-dimensional (3-D) tactical displays are being developed that depict assets using miniature realistic icons, mostly of ships and planes. Our objective was to test the performance benefits of these icons. In four experiments, we presented participants 10 common military platforms displayed as 3-D icons, 2-D icons, or conventional 2-D symbols (Military Standard 2525). We found that: . Symbols were identified faster than icons. . Symbols were identified more accurately than icons. . Symbols were identified bett..