Opening
The chairman (FN) welcomed everyone to Mârslet, JA was unable to attend
but supplied some notes for discussion.
Approval of agenda and appointment of secretary
The agenda was approved with one addition, under AOB the subject on the trend
towards greener maps was to be discussed. CS agreed to act as minutes secretary.
Minutes of Previous Meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting held 12th August 1995 in Oerlinghausen, Germany
were accepted as a true and accurate record.
FN thanked AD for organising the Map Instructors' Conference that followed
the MCStG committee meeting.
The Conference report should have been sent to all Federations and delegates,
FN to check with Lennart Levin (LL) whether this was the case.
Reports from Council/Comniittees
Council reported that an agreement had been signed with Finnair, they are now
the official IOF carrier - lOF representatives are asked to use Finnair whenever
practical.
Request for MCStG Activity Plan 96-98 by 4th March 96 (FN had sent a draft of the plan) and for a MCStG Activity Report 94-96 by 1st April 96.
Council to meet l9th-2lst April 96 at Bisham Abbey, England. All chairs of Steering Groups invited to attend, FN is unable to attend, HP to attend if possible.
Information received from Events Committee including applications for future IOF events, WC98 program and appointment of lOF controllers.
Minutes of last meeting and activity plan / budget received from Technical Committee.
Correspondence
Copy of the Fairness Group Report received - item 2.3.2 states the map scale for
short distance competition should always be 1:10000 and surveyed at 1:7500, however
it omits to state that the map should use enlarged symbology.
Copy of IOF World Cup Guidelines booklet received - section 15 refers to the map. Although scale is discussed in detail and in general follows the views of lOF MCStG there is no discussion on contour interval.
Letter from Jan Herremans, Belgium re JWOC97 mapping, they would like to produce maps with 1 m contour intervals. FN to reply suggesting they use a 2.5m contour interval which with the use of form lines would give a 1.25m interval and copied to Geir Tveit, the IOF controller who will be the final arbiter once he has reviewed the terrain.
Letter from Knut Olav Sunde, Norway re printing maps using process colours. A number of maps have now been printed in Norway using the three colour process (cyan, yellow and magenta) using frequency modulated screens (the random positioning of dots - also known as the crystal raster system). Discussion followed on registration and cost savings: a print house specialising in maps and aware of registration tolerances would be okay but going to a back street printer could result in disaster! What are the real savings? The savings by changing from spot 5-colour to process 4- or 3-colour are only small when compared to the overall cost of the map.
Reports from members of map committee
Germany - The World Championships are now over, the legacy being some excellent
maps which will hopefully set standards for other mappers to follow, though at
present many foreign map makers are being used as they are cheaper than local
map makers.
There is much discussion amongst clubs who favour 1:10000 maps for small areas so they fit on A4 paper.
Sweden - All map makers are aware of the requirements of 1:10000 maps and so
now all maps at this scale have enlarged symbols.
The discussion on the specification of the green colour has been concluded. Sample maps with differing greens were produced and a leading expert in colour blindness stated that "the samples were so close that it would cost a lot of money to investigate it scientifically". His opinion was that the current IOF green (PMS361) with its yellowish tint would be more likely to cause problems than the old green (PMS339) with its bluish tint. All future maps in Sweden will thus use the green-blue PMS339 colour. There is concern that an IOF controller might reject maps printed with the PMS339 colour.
Colour copying both from printed maps and computer files is now allowed in races but is not often used. Two criteria have been established: it must only be used for 1:10000 maps and that printed and colour copied maps are not mixed within a class.
The O-Ringen organisers want to use 1:10000 maps but all elite races except for short distance must use 1:15000 maps.
Great Britain - At the recent Mapping Conference, FN had been a guest who hopefully left with a favourable impression of British map making after two days of interesting discussion and debate.
There is concern within the BOF Map Group about the lack of dialogue with the organising executive of the World Championships in 1999. Only professional mappers are to be considered, most of whom still use traditional cartographic techniques. AD stated that maps must be drawn using computer after Germany's experience last year. FN suggested that CS write to Lasse Niemelä the IOF controller to make him aware of the situation.
Denmark - There is continuing discussion on map scales with more maps being printed at 1:10000. All maps for B competitions are printed at both scales and paid for by DOF. At present maps of greater than 6km2 are paid for by DOF while those smaller areas are paid for by the club, this threshold is to be reduced to 4km2.
DOF are very pleased with their full time mapping employee, Sören Nielson, who organises mapping courses, mapping projects and school mapping courses.
Mapping Courses
Two mapping courses were recently held in South Africa, in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
Robin Harvey (GBR) was instructor, both courses having 8-10 delegates. Much of
the time was spent concentrating on terrain interpretation and how to depict it.
The money for this course will have to come out of the 1996 budget and not 1995
as anticipated.
Map Committee Working Groups
Revision of Map Instructors' Kit - The text in its current state of revision was
distributed for comment. This revision will still discuss cartography using pen
and ink though greatly reduced in content and will have a passing reference to
scribing. Discussion on the format the Kit should be distributed in concluded
that CD was preferable, though one off hard copies could still be produced.
It is anticipated the text will be complete late April / early May with the complete product ready by Congress.
Symbol Group - No progress has yet been made though the 2000 revision will assume that all maps are produced by computer.
Technical Development Group - BP had produced a prototype 'Home Page' on the Internet which the committee viewed later in the day. There will be hyperlinks to: Mapping HiTech Forum, MCStG Meeting Reviews, International O-Mapping News, Mapping Calendar, Address Book, Mapping Samples and a Mail Point to send mail to the committee. It is intended that only MCStG members will be able to update, other contributors will need to mail articles, comments etc. for review before they are published. Before going live some more development work needs to be carried out.
ISOM
The IOF are to publish the ISOM on the Internet, this will allow copies to be
printed by anyone as it will be in the public domain, but it would still be a
breach of copyright if copies of ISOM were sold.
The only official version which must be referred to for any disputes or queries is the printed English edition. It was agreed that a further 600 copies of the English edition should be printed, a quote had been received from Harveys for the reprint, FN to get a quote via Sören in Denmark. FN to investigate whether additional covers were printed in the first print run and also the cost for just printing the cover.
FN to write to LL to ask him to write to the existing advertisers asking whether they wish to continue to advertise their services in ISOM.
Communication
BP to gather material and draft an article on the trend towards more and more
green on maps for inclusion in Orienteering World.
AD to draft an article on GPS for Orienteering World. AD to speak to Koradhus, Finland to get their experiences in using GPS for O-mapping.
FN to write to Knut Olav Sunde to ask him to write an article on printing o-maps using process colours for inclusion on the Internet.
Budget
A request for SEK33500- was cut to SEK23000- when monies were allocated. Approximately
SEK8000- was spent for the mapping courses in South Africa, leaving SEK15000-
for the remainder of the year.
A reprint of ISOM will cost approximately SEK 13000-. The MCStG are unhappy with the IOF policy that production costs for booklets such as ISOM come out of the appropriate committee's budget but that any revenue from sales and advertising are not offset against this expenditure. In effect, the MCStG are giving back half it's budget!
The residual monies of approximately SEK2000 for all other activities is insufficient, unless income from sales and advertising is offset against production costs then MCStG cannot proceed with a reprint of ISOM.
It is intended to produce the revised Instructors' Kit for O-Mapping this financial year, BP will seek the possibility of sponsorship.
Activity Report for Congress Period 1994-1996
The report was produced after the meeting closed.
Activity Plan and Budget for Congress Period 1996-1998
A draft plan was circulated by FN which was discussed with some additions and
deletions. The plan was edited after the meeting closed.
Map Committee Steering Group next Congress Period - Recommendations to Council
FN wishes to stand down as chairman at Congress, BP has agreed to be nominated
as the new chairman. The other existing members are all willing to continue for
the next Congress period. The committee would like to recommend that Sören
Nielson be invited onto the committee.
Any Other Business
There followed a general discussion on the recent trend in some countries for
new maps to have increasing amounts of green when the overall runnability of the
area has not altered from the previous map. Often the runnability is under estimated
and runners are taking the direct route through both light and middle green vegetation.
IOF controllers need to be made aware of this trend.
Next Meeting
The next meeting is planned to coincide with Congress to be held at the Hollyland
Hotel, Jerusalem, Israel. The provisional date for the meeting being 17th July
1996.