STANAG 3833

STANAG 3833 symbols for land forces training area maps

National defence authorities and NATO bodies implementing STANAG 3833, and the suppliers whose contracts invoke AGeoP-15 map symbology

STANAG 3833 is NATO's agreement committing ratifying nations to implement AGeoP-15, NATO's standard for map symbols used on land forces training area maps.

Edition: 4
Published: 2016-07-28

What it is

STANAG 3833 is the NATO standardization agreement by which participating nations commit to implement AGeoP-15, Edition A, NATO's standard for map symbols used on land forces training area maps. The STANAG itself sets no symbols; it is the agreement, and the specification lives in AGeoP-15. This is edition 4, promulgated 28 July 2016, and it supersedes STANAG 3833 Edition 3.

What the STANAG agrees to

The document's aim is "to provide standard map symbols for the use on training maps for land forces", so that NATO and contributing nations can work from a coherent set of digital and paper based geospatial products, and so that NATO, PfP and Global Partner nations share "a common standard on the use of maps in training areas (for Land Forces)". Nations that ratify it "agree to implement the following standard": AGeoP-15, Edition A.

How it binds

A STANAG binds a nation, not a supplier, and it binds through ratification rather than by existing. The enclosed agreement has been "ratified by member nations, as reflected in the NATO Standardization Document Database (NSDD)", and it is "effective upon receipt and ready to be used by the implementing nations and NATO bodies". Partner nations are separately "invited to adopt this STANAG", a lighter commitment than ratification. A supplier meets STANAG 3833 and AGeoP-15 only when a contract or tender says so; the document does not address industry at all.

What implementation actually involves

A nation or NATO body has implemented the STANAG "when the necessary orders/instructions have been issued directing the forces concerned to put the content of the covered standard into effect". Nations report their effective implementation using the form in Annex H to AAP-03(J); partner nations report their adoption using the form in Annex G to the same publication. That is where the practical work lands: issuing the instructions and reporting that it was done, not a one-time technical change.

Review and supersession

The STANAG is "to be reviewed at least once every three years", with the result recorded in the NSDD, and a nation or NATO body may propose a change at any time through a standardization proposal to the tasking authority, for processing at the next review. This edition supersedes STANAG 3833 Edition 3; the document does not give that earlier edition's date. It is a NATO non classified document, free of charge and not sold by NATO or by us.

What the document does not cover

STANAG 3833 names no certification, audit or inspection regime, sets no map symbol itself, and says nothing about which countries, sectors or contracts it will appear in. Anyone looking for the actual symbol shapes, colours or conventions will not find them here; that detail is in AGeoP-15.

How we help

STANAG 3833 is the ratification cover, not something an organisation implements directly: the operational work is following AGeoP-15's map symbol requirements when producing or reading training area maps for land forces, and that work happens in cartographic and training practice, not in software. Where a contract or tender invokes this STANAG or AGeoP-15, what a supplier can evidence is the internal procedure naming which edition of AGeoP-15 a programme builds to, training records showing personnel were instructed in the current symbol set, and the audit trail connecting a contract's map-symbology requirement to what was delivered and reviewed.

ComplyTrain holds those procedures, training records and the audit trail in one controlled, versioned place, so they can be produced when a customer or a national authority asks for them.

What ComplyTrain does not do: it does not draw training area maps or verify that a map correctly applies AGeoP-15 symbols. That is cartographic and geospatial production work, carried out by the people and systems that make the maps.

The applicable tier, and whichever of STANAG 3833's related documents a contract also invokes, is set by the contract and the customer's quality clause, not by this page. Use the standards explorer to see what sits alongside STANAG 3833 and AGeoP-15, or talk to us about how we help you evidence the processes behind it.

Standards it references

STANAG 3675Background
STANAG 3676Background
STANAG 2019Background
APP-06Background

Questions

Is STANAG 3833 mandatory?

It binds nations that ratify it, not suppliers directly. A supplier meets it when a contract or tender invokes STANAG 3833 or the AGeoP-15 standard it covers; outside a contract, it imposes nothing on industry.

What is the difference between STANAG 3833 and AGeoP-15?

STANAG 3833 is the agreement: a short cover document by which nations commit to implement a standard. AGeoP-15 is the technical content, NATO's specification for symbols used on land forces training area maps. STANAG 3833 currently points at AGeoP-15, Edition A.

What edition is current, and what changed?

Edition 4, promulgated 28 July 2016, supersedes Edition 3. The document does not itself give the date of that earlier edition or describe what changed between the two.

Is ComplyTrain certified against STANAG 3833?

No such certification exists. The document names no accredited body, notified body or scheme for certifying an organisation or product against it; it describes only a national ratification, implementation and review cycle recorded in NATO's Standardization Document Database.

Where do I get the document?

It is published free of charge by NATO through the Standardization Document Database, and is not sold by NATO or by us.