MAP COMMISSION CORRESPONDENTS

The original letter to the national federations

Helsinki, 17 February 2005

To: All IOF Member Federations

SUBJECT: APPOINTMENT OF AN IOF MAP COMMISSION CORRESPONDENT

Dear orienteering friends,

From time to time, the Map Commission needs to seek opinions and views on mapping matters from the member federations. The commission has recently sent out requests for information. The first request was related to the Print Tech project and the most recent was the Sprint orienteering map questionnaire for the competitors at the WOC Championships.

Details of the Print Tech Project were sent to all the federations. The Map Commission has had a number of useful replies but it has no means of knowing if all federations have received, or acted upon, the request.

The Map Commission feels that it would help the process of gathering information and ideas to have a Map Correspondent in each federation. Therefore, all IOF member federations are invited to appoint an individual to act as a Correspondent to the IOF Map Commission.

The Map Commission would like to suggest that the Map Correspondents would preferably:

A. Be experienced orienteers with some experience of the mapping process, possibly the Chairman or a member of the federation’s Map Committee.
B. Should have a good working knowledge of written English or access to translation facilities.

The task of the Map Correspondents would be:

1. To supply information and opinions on mapping related topics from their respective federations.
2. To identify someone with the required expertise if they do not have the specific information themselves. Trail Orienteering, MTB Orienteering or Sprint Orienteering might be examples of such specific topics.

The appointed individuals would receive the agendas, minutes and other documents of the Map Commission. Communication would be in writing, usually by e-mail. The Map Correspondents would not attend the meetings of the Map Commission.

The Map Commission feels that the advantages of appointing Map Correspondents would be:

1. A quicker and more certain way of obtaining information and ideas from the member federations.
2. A more positive approach to the dissemination of information.

Please inform the IOF Secretariat, e-mail: piritta.forsstrom.iof@orienteering.org of the name and contact details (e-mail address) of your appointed Map Correspondent, preferably together with some information about his/her mapping experience. The e-mail addresses are not meant to be published on the web page of the IOF Map Commission.

If you are not able to identify a suitable Map Correspondent, requests for information on mapping issues will continue to be sent to the e-mail address of your federation’s office.

Best wishes,

László Zentai
Chairman, IOF Map Commission