About spotting.
In AOD [DOS], you can spot aircraft on map at about 30km in high visibility situations. However, you crew will only make a report when the aircraft closes to about 10km.
In short, you can spot merchants and escorts long before they are reported.
Additionally, the F10 (only in AOD[DOS]) will give you a camera view of the selected game object. Thus, you can ID an ship or plane at extreme range like 20km.