What's the meaning of these icons in The Division?

Question

What is the meaning of these orange rectangles on the map?

When I meet another player in the open world I see this number on him/her. I also have this symbol and number shown in my character selection, what is the meaning?

Answer 1

These orange rectangles are markers.
They are always on the icon's side that's opposite of the player's location, and on the (up to) four icons of points of interest closest to the player.
You can select, or switch, those nodes by pressing the corresponding keys (←, ↓, and →, for the ones in this particular image).

See also this picture:

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This symbol and its number indicate the commendation level of a player.
This level can be increased by receiving commendations. Here is a good overview of how to get some of them.

^{Sources:
https://www.reddit.com/r/thedivision/comments/4b6xwh/what_do_the_little_orange_bars_by_some_of_the/
https://www.reddit.com/r/thedivision/comments/8wlqgk/what_is_the_orange_symbol_and_numbers_next_to/
NB the first question actually already got an answer here}