APRS SYMBOLS (Icons) 25 Mar 2008 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- WB4APR This original APRS symbol specification is updated periodically with new symbols as they are defined. This is THE master list for APRS. NEW OVERLAYS ON ALL ALTERNATE SYMBOLS: As of 1 October 2007, the use of overlay characters on all alternate symbols was allowed as needed in order to further expand the APRS symbol set. These overlay expansions of up to 36 different usages for each of the 94 alternate symbols adds hundreds of potential new symbols. Since this overlay info will no longer fit in this original document it is found in a new document: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/aprs/symbols-new.txt If an alternate symbol from the table below, contains significant definitions of its overlay characters, then the entry will have an "O" added to indicate that additonal definitions exist in the above document. The # symbol indicates the original Overlay subset. For details on Upgrading your symbol set, please see the background information on Symbols prepared by Stephen Smith, WA8LMF: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/aprs/symbols-background.txt UPDATE CHRONOLOGY: 25 Mar 08: Added \% Power plants with Overlays. Changed \i from "BOXn digi" to generic "BOX with overlay". An indoor BOXn digi can use an overlay on existing digi. 13 Feb 08: Added overlay "S" on \a and \c for SATERN 10 Jan 08: Added Overlay "X" on BOX for the XO OLPC laptop 01 Oct 07: Added the above paragraphs about Overlay byte extensions of the APRS symbol set and defined two new symbols. Added "S[" Skier and "O-" for House with Operator Present. 03 Jul 07: Began defining some overlay common usages. 09 Apr 07: First proposed expanding the alternate symbols overlays. And added to the APRS1.2 addendum: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/aprs/symbols-overlays.txt 02 Feb 07: Cleaned up some names for consistency with Icon tables 18 Oct 06: Suggest \x for car wreck or road obstruction. Looks like a big X like this: ->X<- sort-of... 16 Jun 06: Suggest I for 2-way IGate and R overlay for RX only. 28 Sep 05: Added /F for Farm vehicle (looks like a tractor) 18 Jan 05: Added C overlay for CERTS to "\c" symbol 3 Jan 05: Added W overlay to "\a" symbol to indicate WinLINK. 7 Dec 04: the /] PBBS symbol (typically a blue Mail Box) is renamed as "MAIL/P.O.". PBBS users should use the BBS symbol. 8 Sep 04: Added Military Affiliate MARS symbol as \M with overlays SYMBOLS for APRS 1.1 ADDENDUM are as below. As of 26 July 04, the symbols below were approved and became part of the APRS1.1 addendum. 26 Jul 04 to add a Rocket "\O" 29 Jun 04 to add an SUV as "\k" 06 May 04 to move Shelter(overlay) from PRI to ALT table 04 Feb 04 to add a note about un-defined symbols) 5 Jan 04 to add D7/D700 Waypoint "\/") 29 Oct 03 to add 802.11, firenet, IncidentCommandPost & Shelter 04 Feb 04: Unassigned symbols should display the international symbol of a circle with a slash through it. Meaning "not"... 29 Jan 04: Reviewed ALL symbols in the spec. Here are all additions: \& = is not just HF, but ANY GATEWAY with overlay character /) = Wheelchair (Handicapped) useful in Marathons (blue and white) \) = Firenet MEO symbol (MODIS Earth observation) \/ = Waypoint (destination) a RED dot showing intended destination. Uses special processing to draw a line from a mobile to his destination. This was proposed 5 Jan 2004 /L = Logged-ON user. (A PC symbol showing someone on APRS-IS) /l = Laptop (lower case L) (looks like a laptop) /c = Incident Command Post \y = Skywarn (black tornado, orange background with white surround) \z = Shelter (with overlay) (A red house with peaked roof) SYMBOLS.TXT APRS DISPLAY SYMBOLS APRSdos ORIGINAL ====================================================================== Document dated: 28 Apr 99 FInal APRS dos symbol spec Author(s): Bob Bruninga, WB4APR SYMBOLS.TXT Details of all APRS display symbols. (ICONS) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The character after the latitude "N/S" in an APRS position report is a TABLE character and the character following the longitude "E/W" is the APRS symbol character. The TABLE character selects one of two symbol tables or may be used as an alphanumeric overlay over some symbols: TABLE RESULT / Primary symbol Table (Mostly stations) \ Alternate symbol table (Mostly Objects) 0-9 Alternate OVERLAY symbol with 0-9 overlayed A-Z Alternate OVERLAY symbol with A-Z overlayed For ease of reference we refer to these as the SYMBOL CHARACTERS and often abbreviate them as "/$" which refers to the Table character "/" and symbol character "$". Press F1-S in APRSdos to see these symbols. Some symbols may have a numeric overlay character 0-9 or A-Z. These are shown on the F1-S display with the numeral "3" overlayed. The original overlayable symbols through Oct 2007 were: CIRCLE, SQUARE, CAR, TRUCK, VAN, DIGIS, GATES Civil-Defense(RACES), NWS sites, WX stations, Triangle After that, provisions should be made in all software to allow for overlays on any alternate symbol as they may be used in the future. SYMBOLS WITH STAND-ALONE GPS TRACKERS: Stand-alone devices that transmit raw GPS have no method to convey their symbol. For this unique application, the symbol can be designated in the UNPROTO TOADDRESS of the form GPSxyz. The X points to a subgroup table and the Y is the actual symbol. Z is an overlay character if used. Actually there are four TOCALLS that will provide the same symbol. GPSxyz is for stand alone trackers SPCxyz is for stand alone trackers at SPECIAL events in SPCL mode SYMxyz is for other TNC-only stations such as WX stations Notice that both the /$ method and GPSxyz method have a one-for-one corrspondence for all numeric and alphabetic symbols of both upper and lower case which should make them easy to remember. For the GPSxyz method, we have broken the PRIMARY and ALTERNATE tables into sub tables with different names to make them easier to remember. For example, "/C" is a CANOE in the PRIMARY table which can be referred to as PC in the XYZ format and the "\C" ALTERNATE table symbol is for Coast Guard which could also be referred to in the GPSxyz format as AC. Simillarly, you can think of the lower case symbols /c or \c as being LC for lower case C and SC for "secondary" table "c". The Following Symbol table shows the two types of identifiers for all APRS ICONS. THe primary symbols are on the left and the alternate table is on the right. The first column of each is labeled /$ and \$ for the primary and alternate tables. These are the chacacters you will see in an APRS formatted position report. The XYZ columns are for the stand-alone trackers described above. /$ XYZ BASIC SYMBOL TABLE \$ XYZ OTHER SYMBOL TABLE (\) -- --- ------------------------ -- --- ---------------------- /! BB Police, Sheriff \! OB EMERGENCY (!) /" BC reserved (was rain) \" OC reserved /# BD DIGI (white center) \# OD# OVERLAY DIGI (green star) /$ BE PHONE \$ OE Bank or ATM (green box) /% BF DX CLUSTER \% OFO Power Plant with overlay /& BG HF GATEway \& OG# OVERLAY GATE I=2way, R=1way /' BH Small AIRCRAFT (SSID = 7) \' OHO Crash site(now Incident sites) /( BI Mobile Satellite Station \( OI CLOUDY /) BJ Wheelchair (handicapped) \) OJO Firenet MEO, MODIS Earth Obs. /* BK SnowMobile \* OK SNOW /+ BL Red Cross \+ OL Church /, BM Boy Scouts \, OM Girl Scouts /- BN House QTH (VHF) \- ONO House (H=HF) (O = Op Present) /. BO X \. OO Ambiguous (Big Question mark) // BP Red Dot \/ OP Waypoint Destination(D7/D700) See APRSdos MOBILE.txt /$ XYZ PRIMARY SYMBOL TABLE \$ XYZ ALTERNATE SYMBOL TABLE (\) -- --- ------------------------ -- --- -------------------------- /0 P0 # circle (obsolete) \0 A0# CIRCLE (E/I =IRLP/Echolink) /1 P1 TBD (these were all) \1 A1 /2 P2 TBD (numbered circles) \2 A2 /3 P3 TBD (looking like pool) \3 A3 /4 P4 TBD (balls until we came) \4 A4 /5 P5 TBD (up with Overlays) \5 A5 /6 P6 TBD (Now they are all) \6 A6 /7 P7 TBD (available for new) \7 A7 /8 P8 TBD (definitions...) \8 A8O 802.11 or other network node /9 P9 TBD \9 A9 Gas Station (blue pump) /: MR FIRE \: NR Hail /; MS Campground (Portable ops) \; NS Park/Picnic area /< MT Motorcycle (SSID =10) \< NTO ADVISORY (one WX flag) /= MU RAILROAD ENGINE \= NUO APRStt Touchtone (DTMF users) /> MV CAR (SSID = 9) \> NV# OVERLAYED CAR /? MW SERVER for Files \? NW INFO Kiosk (Blue box with ?) /@ MX HC FUTURE predict (dot) \@ NX HURICANE/Trop-Storm /A PA Aid Station \A AA# OVERLAYED BOX (XA=XO laptop) /B PB BBS or PBBS \B AB Blowing Snow /C PC Canoe \C AC Coast Guard /D PD \D AD Drizzle (proposed APRStt) /E PE EYEBALL (Eye catcher!) \E AE Smoke /F PF Farm Vehicle (tractor) \F AF Freezing rain /G PG Grid Square (6 digit) \G AG Snow Shower /H PH HOTEL (blue bed symbol) \H AHO \Haze or (Overlay Hazard) /I PI TcpIp on air network stn \I AI Rain Shower /J PJ \J AJ Lightening /K PK School \K AK Kenwood HT (W) /L PL PC user (Jan 03) \L AL Lighthouse /M PM MacAPRS \M AMO MARS (A=Army,N=Navy,F=AF) /N PN NTS Station \N AN Navigation Buoy /O PO BALLOON (SSID =11) \O AO Rocket (new June 2004) /P PP Police \P AP Parking /Q PQ TBD \Q AQ QUAKE /R PR REC. VEHICLE (SSID =13) \R AR Restaurant /S PS SHUTTLE \S AS Satellite/Pacsat /T PT SSTV \T AT Thunderstorm /U PU BUS (SSID = 2) \U AU SUNNY /V PV ATV \V AV VORTAC Nav Aid /W PW National WX Service Site \W AW# # NWS site (NWS options) /X PX HELO (SSID = 6) \X AX Pharmacy Rx (Apothicary) /Y PY YACHT (sail) (SSID = 5) \Y AY Radios and devices /Z PZ WinAPRS \Z AZ /[ HS Human/Person (HT) \[ DSO Wall Cloud (S = skier) /\ HT TRIANGLE(DF station) \\ DTO New overlayable GPS symbol /] HU MAIL/PostOffice(was PBBS) \] DU /^ HV LARGE AIRCRAFT \^ DV# # Aircraft (shows heading) /_ HW WEATHER Station (blue) \_ DW# # WX site (green digi) /` HX Dish Antenna \` DX Rain /$ XYZ LOWER CASE SYMBOL TABLE \$ XYZ SECONDARY SYMBOL TABLE (\) -- --- ------------------------ -- --- -------------------------- /a LA AMBULANCE (SSID = 1) \a SA# ARRL: ARES(A), WinLINK (W) /b LB BIKE (SSID = 4) \b SB Blowing Dust/Sand /c LC Incident Command Post \c SC# CD. RACES, CERTS, SATERN /d LD Fire dept \d SD DX spot by callsign /e LE HORSE (equestrian) \e SE Sleet /f LF FIRE TRUCK (SSID = 3) \f SF Funnel Cloud /g LG Glider \g SG Gale Flags /h LH HOSPITAL \h SHO Store. or HAMFST Hh=HAM store /i LI IOTA (islands on the air) \i SI# BOX or points of Interest /j LJ JEEP (SSID-12) \j SJ WorkZone (Steam Shovel) /k LK TRUCK (SSID = 14) \k SKO Special Vehicle SUV,ATV,4x4 /l LL Laptop (Jan 03) (Feb 07) \l SL Areas (box,circles,etc) /m LM Mic-E Repeater \m SM Value Sign (3 digit display) /n LN Node (black bulls-eye) \n SN# OVERLAY TRIANGLE /o LO EOC \o SO small circle /p LP ROVER (puppy, or dog) \p SP Partly Cloudy /q LQ GRID SQ shown above 128 m \q SQ /r LR Repeater (Feb 07) \r SR Restrooms /s LS SHIP (pwr boat) (SSID-8) \s SS# OVERLAY SHIP/boat (top view) /t LT TRUCK STOP \t ST Tornado /u LU TRUCK (18 wheeler) \u SU# OVERLAYED TRUCK /v LV VAN (SSID = 15) \v SV# OVERLAYED Van /w LW WATER station \w SW Flooding /x LX xAPRS (Unix) \x SX Wreck or Obstruction ->X<- /y LY YAGI @ QTH \y SY Skywarn /z LZ TBD \z SZ# OVERLAYED Shelter /{ J1 \{ Q1 Fog /| J2 TNC Stream Switch \| Q2 TNC Stream Switch /} J3 \} Q3 /~ J3 TNC Stream Switch \~ Q4 TNC Stream Switch HEADING SYMBOLS: Although all symbols are supposed to have a heading line showing the direction of movement with a length proportional to the log of speed, some symbols were desiged as top-down views so that they could be displayed actually always POINTING in the direction of movement. These special symbols are: \> OVERLAYED CAR \^ Overlayed Aircraft /^ Aircraft /g Glider \n Overlayed Triangle AREA SYMBOLS! You can define BOX/CIRCLE/LINE or TRIANGLE areas in all colors, either open or filled in, any size from 60 feet to 100 miles. Simply move the cursor to the location, press HOME, move the cursor to the lower right corner of the AREA and hit INPUT-ADD-OBJECTS-AREA. Enter the type of area, and color. NOTE that AREA shapes can only be defined by selecting the upper left corner first, then the lower right second. The line is an exception. It is still top to bottom, but the lower point can be to the left of the beginning point. Further, in the line option you may specify a "width" either side of the central line. These AREAS are useful for real-time events such as for a search-and- rescue, or adding a special ROAD or ROUTE for a special event. Be cautious in using the color fill option, since all other objects in that area that occur earlier in your PLIST will be obscured. AND you do NOT know the order of other stations P-lists. AREAS FORMAT: The new format for specifying special areas uses the CSE/SPD field to provide the additional information as follows: $CSE/SPD... Normal Field description lTyy/Cxx... Where: l (lower case L) is symbol for "LOCATION SHAPES" T is Type of shape: 0=circle, 1=line, 2=elipse 3=triangle 4=box add 5 to these => color-in C is color from 0 to 15. For colors geater than 9, / is replaced with a 1. yy is sqroot of the latitude offset in 1/100ths xx is sqroot of the longitude offset These offsets are ALWAYS positive to the right and down, except for the special case of a lower right quadrant line, these are given the Type of 6 and are drawn down and to the left. HURRICANES, TROPICAL STORMS and DEPRESSIONS: These symbols will be differentiated by colors red, yellos, and blue. Additionally a radius of Huricane and also Tropical storm winds will also be shown if the format detailed in WX.txt is used. SYMBOLS ON MAPS! APRS can also be permanently embedded in maps. To embed a symbol in a map, simply make the first four characters of the label be a # followed by the dual symbol character, followed by a hex number from 1 to F that indicates the color for the symbol. The remaining 8 characters can be used for a conventional label at the same location. An example are the VORTAC nav-aids in Alaska. The Anchorage VORTAC appears as ANC on all maps below 128 miles. The label entry is #\VFANC,LAT,LONG,128. VALUE SIGNPOSTS: Signposts display as a yellow box with a 1-3 letter overlay on them. You specify the 1-3 letter overlay by enclosing them in braces in the comment field. Thus a VALUE Signpost with {55} would appear as a sign with 55 on it, designed for posting the speed of traffic past speed measuring devices. APRSdos has a version named APRStfc.EXE that monitors traffic speed and posts these speed signs objects when traffic slows in these areas. To avoid cluttering the map, they ONLY appear at 8 miles and below AND they do not show any callsign or name. Only the yellow box and the 3 letters or numbers. Select them from the OBJECT menu under VALUE... APRS 1.2 OVERLAY TYPE SYMBOLS [April 2007]: ------------------------------------------- All alternate symbols have the potential to be overlayed. This was the original intent and was only limited to a few due to limitations in Mac and WinAPRS. Those original "numbered" symbols are marked with a # in the table above. But by 2007, it was time to move on. In APRS 1.2 it is proposed that any ALTENATE symbol can have overlays. Kenwood has already responded with the new D710 that can now display these overlays on all symbols. To help define these hundreds of new symbol combinations, we have added a new file called: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/aprs/symbols-new.txt The overlay symbols may be used in two ways. First, simply as an overlay on a basic symbol type. Most uses of these symbols will be in this manner. But special overlays on some special characters may also be re-drawn as entirely new graphics for clarity if desired. The above NEW-Overlay document attempts to define those special combinations that may rate their own special symbol or where multiple use of an overlay character for different purposes would be confusing. Bob, WB4APR