Commanders' Display of Terrain Information: Manipulations of Display Dimensionality and Frame of Reference to Support Battlefield Visualization.

Abstract

To gain a better understanding of the effects of display dimensionality and frame of reference on battlefield commanders' ability to understand the constraints of battlefield terrain, we constructed three electronic map displays, depicting both flat and mountainous terrain, and studied their effects on making various types of tactical judgments. U.S. Military Academy officers were presented with a two-dimensional (2D) contour display, a three- dimensional (3D) static, exocentric display, and a 3D interactive display of various battlefield situations (i.e., friendly and enemy units, travel paths, destinations) and were asked to make judgments regarding unit mobility across the depicted terrain, relative distances between units and or destinations, and line of sight (LOS) to specified locations. Officers were asked to make judgments as quickly and accurately as possible, while taking into account pre-defined mobility rules that had been distributed before the actual experimental session and were available throughout the study. In addition, officers were asked to provide verbal confidence ratings of having responded accurately to individual judgments. Results showed performance trade-offs in making the three tactical judgments, depending upon electronic map display format used. Distance judgments were best served by the 2D display, while the 3D interactive display best supported LOS judgments. Officers' performance in making mobility judgments was affected by the degree of vertical development of the depicted battlefield terrain. The relationship of participants' spatial ability to their performance in making tactical judgments and using interactive display capabilities is also discussed. When participants were provided with interactive viewpoint tools, there was a trend toward less frequent use (maneuvering) for officers with higher levels of spatial ability.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1999
Accession Number
ADA370516

Entities

People

  • Christopher Dow Wickens
  • Rachel Banks

Organizations

  • University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Birds
  • Cognitive Systems Engineering
  • Computer Programming
  • Data Analysis
  • Data Visualization
  • Human Factors Engineering
  • Human-Machine Interaction
  • Information Processing
  • Information Systems
  • Military Research
  • Navigation
  • Personnel Management
  • Psychology
  • Three Dimensional
  • Two Dimensional
  • United States Military Academy
  • Virtual Reality

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Geodesy
  • Military Science
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics