Vexillological symbol

A vexillological symbol is used by vexillologists to indicate certain characteristics of national flags, such as where they are used, who uses them, and what they look like. The set of symbols described in this article are known as international flag identification symbols, which were devised by Whitney Smith.

Usage

A special grid-type symbol () is used to indicate locations of use and which parties may use each flag (See Flag terminology). The format of the symbol is a grid of two squares by three squares, with the presence or absence of a filled circle in each square to indicate usage or non-usage respectively. The general layout of this symbol is as follows:

	Civil	State	War
Flag	Privately used on land	Publicly used on land	Used on land by military
Ensign	Privately used at sea	Publicly used at sea	Used at sea by military

Properties

Other symbols are used to describe how a flag looks, such as whether it has a different design on each side, or if it is hung vertically, etc. These are the symbols in general use:

	Normal or de jure version of flag, or obverse side
	Design was proposed in the past, but never officially adopted
	Design is a reconstruction, based on past observations
	Reverse side of flag
	Design is an acceptable variant
	Alternate version of flag
	De facto version of flag
	Flag has different designs on its obverse side and its reverse side
	Obverse side meant to be hoisted with pole to the observer's right
	Design officially authorized to represent nation by government of that nation
	Design used in the past, but now abandoned (this symbol is not part of Smith's original set)
	Reverse side is mirror image of obverse side
	Reverse side is congruent to obverse side
	Information on reverse side is not available
	Flag can be hung vertically by hoisting on a normal pole, then turning the pole ninety degrees
	Flag can be hung vertically by rotating the design first
	Vertical hoist method of flag is unknown
	Design has no element which can be rotated
	Flag can only be hoisted vertically

See also

• Flag terminology
• Vexillology