FIAV Flag Information Symbols

The symbols were adopted by FIAV in the early 1970's as the standards to use when describing flag usage by "shorthand". The complete listing of those symbols adopted are as listed in Smith's 1975 and 1980 books.
David Martcuci, 07 July 1997

	Alternate version of the flag
	De facto Version, no official law or edict making the flag official
	Historic flag no longer in use *
	No flag approved
	Normal presentation (view) *
	Proposal
	Reconstruction based upon written sources only
	Reverse (mirror image) reverse side is not the same
	Sinister hoist - the flag is intended to be viewed with the staff on the right
	Two sided; the reverse is different from the obverse
	Variant - this flag is one of several which can be displayed

by António Martins (no flag and historical images) and Željko Heimer

* indicates an extended symbol not in the standard FIS set. This symbol has been proposed by Željko Heimer.

For a full explanation of these and other symbols, see Željko Heimer's Flag Information System page.

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António Martins has developed a true type font for Windows applications using the FIAV Information System codes. The vexillological symbols font can be downloaded from FOTW.

Another TrueType font developed by Phil Nelson using the Information symbols and all grids (shown below) is available for download at FOTW using the Unicode personal use area and compatible with Windows 2000 and above.

The sixty-four grids for representing a flag are based upon the general usage of the flag. The first row represents land use, the second sea use, each divided into Civil (private), Nation (state/government) and Military use (war flag).

	Private Use	Public Use	Military Use
Land Use	Civil Flag	State Flag	War Flag
Sea Use	Civil Ensign	State Ensign	War Ensign

The 64 grids follow:

	No attributes selected		Civil flag
	War ensign		Civil flag/war ensign
	State ensign		Civil flag and state ensign
	State and war ensign		Civil flag, state and war ensign
	Civil ensign		Civil flag and ensign
	Civil ensign and war flag		Civil flag/ensign and war ensign
	Civil and state ensign		Civil flag and ensign, state ensign
	National ensign		Civil flag and national ensign
	War flag		Civil and war flag
	War flag and ensign		Civil flag and war flag and ensign
	War flag and state ensign		Civil and war flag and state ensign
	War flag and state and war ensign		Civil and war flag, state and war ensign
	War flag and civil ensign		Civil and war flag and civil ensign
	War flag and civil and war ensign		Civil and war flags and ensigns
	War flag and civil and state ensign		Civil and war flag and civil and state ensign
	War flag and national ensign		Civil and war flag and national ensign
	State flag		Civil and state flag
	State flag and war ensign		Civil and state flag and war ensign
	State flag and ensign		Civil/State flag and state ensign
	State flag and state and war ensign		Civil and state flag, state and war ensign
	State flag and civil ensign		Civil and state flag and civil ensign
	State flag and civil and war ensign		Civil and state flag, civil and war ensign
	State flag and state/civil ensign		Civil and state flags and ensigns
	State flag and national ensign		Civil and state flag and national ensign
	State and war flag		National flag on land
	State flag and war flag and ensign		National flag and war ensign
	State flag and ensign and war flag		National flag and state ensign
	State/War flag and ensign		National flag, state and war ensign
	State/War flag and civil ensign		National flag and civil ensign
	State/War flag and civil and war ensign		National flag and civil and war ensign
	State and war flag, civil and state ensign		National flag and civil and state ensign
	State and war flag and national ensign		National flag and ensign

by António Martins

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In the above, the use of the word "state" is to imply the nation; however, when all three elements of a row are identified in use for a particular flag, the use will be identified as "National". [Ed.]