From the EVE side of the equation, the DUST link is exceptionally underwhelming. You hover over a planet. A half-second burst of light travels to the planet. That's it. The thing you're targeting on the planet is not even a representation of anything happening in the DUST game itself. It's not representative of the DUST map. Hell, the bombardment we rain down isn't even reflective of the bombardment as it happens in DUST. What's a four to five second light show in DUST is a half second, underwhelming flash of light in EVE. That's some weak-sauce linkage from the EVE side. If the EVE-to-DUST link is that boring, why care?

The DUST and EVE servers reside in the same server farm, the same location, in London. There is the ability for more data sharing between the two games. CCP should start taking advantage of this. If they want EVE players to care about DUST, then they should start moving in this direction more quickly, making more DUST data available to EVE players.

That idea generated a few complaints from DUST players. "We don't get a top-down map, it would be unfair to give EVE players that ability. It would unbalance battles." It might do exactly that. Is that terrible? I don't think so. First of all, what percentage of battles would even have that advantage? And if it gets EVE players more invested in the DUST side of the equation, how is that a horrible thing? Hell, it might even get DUST players more invested in EVE. There would certainly be some DUST players that would dual-box, and having a DUST player paying for an EVE account for reconnaissance purposes, I'm not sure CCP would be too resistant to that idea.

How might this top-down mapping be accomplished? Well, an EVE player would target the district satellite and then start hacking it (not available to trial accounts.) I'd suggest using a current skill like Hacking, rather than creating a whole new skill. Once hacked into the satellite, the EVE player chooses a side, red or blue (team names available, so that they can make the right decision). The side chosen has to be verified by the DUST squadron leader on the planet below. The DUST team the EVE player chooses, they get perfect intel on the positions of those players (limited by EVE's one second tick.). Player names are only listed alongside the dots of friendlies. As for the position of opposition dots, these are as accurate as a pilot's hacking skill. Hacking V gives perfect intel on the opposition's locations. Hacking I gives far less accurate information. How might the obfuscation be accomplished? Time delay is an idea. Another idea: randomizing the distance of an opposition dot from their actual location, the lower the hacking skill, the less reliable the information on-screen.