GIS APPLICATION TO DEVELOPMENT OF MILITARY CROSS-COUNTRY MOVEMENT MAPS AT MAE SOT DISTRICT, WESTERN THAILAND
Keywords:
Military terrain analysis, land trafficability, cross-country movement, CCM map, GISAbstract
To demonstrate the merit of the geographic information system (GIS) in military work to the public, this paper reports the GIS-based derivation of cross-country movement (CCM) maps for 4 major types of military vehicles (M35 truck, M113 carrier, Stingray tank, and Scorpion tank) in MaeSot District, a renowned strategic location in western Thailand. The constructing process was carried out based on guidelines adopted by the US Army and the Royal Thai Army. Each map was made from the direct product of 5 crucial terrain factors: slope, slope-intercept-frequency, vegetation, soil, and surface roughness, in which 3 categories of trafficability were identified: Go, Slow Go, No Go. The resulting maps indicated that the most trafficable areas for all the listed vehicles were located on the large flat plain in the western part of the district as the middle and eastern parts were predominately high mountains and relatively rough terrain. The average land trafficability for most vehicles (except the M113) significantly decreased from the dry to the wet season due to softer soil conditions. In terms of the performance score, both tank vehicles did comparably well during the dry season followed by the M113, but for the wet season, the Scorpion did best followed by the M113 and the Stingray, respectively. In both cases, the M35 truck was found to perform worst. These results which were obtained are useful as primary information for the future preparation and operation by the Royal Thai Army of the effective CCM activity for the vehicles which were included in this study.
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