Map Commission's general comments
Terrain
There were three different terrains which were wide enough for the competitions:
- Utranharju, long distance qualification
- Lykynlampi: middle distance final
- Pärnävaara: long distance final and relay
General information
All maps were made by the same professional map maker. The system how the tracks and paths were divided to different categories (speed, width) were approved by the Event Advisor over one year before the event.All maps were printed by spot colour printing method to plastic material Robuskin. The quality of the printing was excellent.
General comments
General appearance of the maps was clear and readable. All track and path symbols had been drawn carefully (correct line widths, nice crossings).
According to the ISMTB-OM all "brown" roads shall be 50 % brown. In all maps the brown colour was 100 %. However, the 100 % brown gave a good contrast and all the wide roads were very visible. It should be considered that the ISMTB-OM could give a chance to use 100 % brown.According to the ISMTB-OM every fifth contour shall be drawn with a thicker line (102 Index contour). That specification was not followed. However, the height difference was not big and there were very many detailed contours (small and bigger hills, a lot of depressions) in some parts of the maps. The usage of the index contour is quite difficult in this kind of terrains.
The purple letters "H" and "D" printed to the maps were wrong. They were corrected to the competitors´ maps to "M" and "W" by hand.
The purple colour of the course symbols was not totally waterproof. This is a known problem when printing to Robuskin material. The colour was good enough, but not technically perfect. That lack of water resistance is not a problem in MTB-O, because a map is folded only 2-3 times during the competition and it is in a map rack behind the transparent plastic. So there is not mechanical stress together with moisture.
Maps
Long distance qualification, July 9, 2006
Map: Utranharju 1:15 000A very good MTB-O map.
One mistake: wrong date of the competition.
Middle distance final, July 10, 2006
Map: Lykynlampi 1:10 000According to the ISMTB-OM the sizes of the purple course symbols are the same in every scale. The control circles in the relay maps were 7.7 mm. Also the other course symbols were scaled up.
There was a very dense network of tracks and paths in some parts of the terrain. The chosen scale gave a very clear picture of the terrain, but 1:15 000 could also have been clear enough.
Long distance final, July 12, 2006
Map: Pärnävaara 1:15 000
According the competition rule 15.7 in any case the map must not be larger than required by the competitor to complete the course. The eastern part of the map (10 cm) was unnecessary. The map (39 x 29 cm) was not cut.
Relay, July 13, 2006
Map: Jyrinkylä 1:10 000There was a very dense network of track and paths in some parts of the terrain. The chosen scale gave a very clear picture of the terrain, but 1:15 000 could also have been clear enough.
Because of the scale, the size of the map was 41 x 33 cm. The big map was not easy to fold and handle and put to the map holder.
According to the ISMTB-OM the sizes of the purple course symbols are the same in every scale. The control circles in the relay maps were 7.7 mm. Also the other course symbols were scaled up.
