Digital Moving Maps in Aircraft

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Since 1990, NRL has supported the Navy's AV-8B and F/A-18 aircraft with map data and design systems. Navy pilots use the map data to drive their cockpit moving-map displays, which are linked to Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) receivers, providing them with hands-off navigation. Naval mission planners use our map design systems to select desired map scales and geographic regions for their flight plans. NRL also developed a system to compress scanned map data by 50:1, considerably reducing the space required to store this data.