Linking Military Paper Maps With Collaborative Planning Software

摘要

The U.S. Army is increasingly being asked to perform simultaneous operations all over the globe. These include stability operations as seen in Kosovo and Bosnia as well as offensive operations such as the war on terror in Afghanistan. As a result of these changing conditions, the U.S. Army is undergoing a transformation to shed its cold war designs and prepare for the crises and wars of the 21st Century. Commanders are now expected to prepare, plan, and execute with a highly mobile and distributed staff. The U.S. Army Research Laboratory, in conjunction with the Battle Command Battle Lab -Ft. Leaven worth, KS, has developed a collaborative environment that will provide an information bridge between the commander and his staff irregardless of their location. One aspect of this information bridge is providing personnel disseminated throughout the field of operations with information drawn on paper maps. This paper will focus on the link between the paper map and the collaborative environment. This effort was performed as part of a Science and Technology Objective called Collaborative Techniques for the Warfighter.