Opening
BP welcomed everyone to Windischgarsten during the Ski-O World Championships. This would allow the MC to experience Ski-O at first hand.
Approval of agenda and appointment of secretary
The proposed agenda was approved. CS agreed to act as minutes secretary.
Minutes of previous meeting
The minutes from the previous meeting in Grimstad, Norway were agreed as a true and accurate record. BP had contacted BR regarding distribution of IOF publications to committee members and there was outline agreement to this proposal, awaiting confirmation.
Reports from member federations
Denmark The re-structuring of DOF will go ahead on the 1st March. The MC will not be so prominent in the new structure. There is a reduction in financial support from the government which will affect the number of mapping courses held as now some of the income will have to come from clubs / participants.
Great Britain The current scheme of assessing each map for the quality of cartography (and survey were possible) has received criticism among some mappers. The scheme is being revised so the first phase is a self assessment, this way the mapper can identify areas that could be improved and the assessor can then concentrate on details the mapper has overlooked.
November's mapping conference was attended by over 30 mappers with guest speaker Hans Steinegger.
The classic distance map for WC3 will be at 1:15000 after discussions between BP, CS, the controller, the mapper and event director in Grimstad.
The maps for WOC99 are on schedule and conform to ISOM (E-mail received a couple of days after meeting), BP is to contact Lars Ake Larsson (the new IOF controller) regarding a map controller for the event.
Hungary There will be a new presidency from March (currently no president or secretary general) and new team leaders have been appointed.
Before 1990 all maps were printed by the Federation as individuals were not allowed to print maps, now the Federation prints few maps. In recent years the number of mapped areas printed has been increasing as economic conditions improve. Last year 58 maps were printed (45 the previous year) and this may not be the full total as there is no longer any control over map printing.
Germany Funding is a major problem at present with money from the DTB down by over 75%, international representation was funded separately but this now have to come from the general fund and may affect AD's involvement.
The number of new areas mapped is going down but the overall number of mapped areas printed is stable. More mapmakers are coming from Eastern Europe to map, especially in Bavaria.
Sweden The activities of the map committee have declined since the re-structuring. A Nordic map meeting was held last autumn.
An agreement with the landowners and national forestry has set a limit of 1500 runners at an event during the spring season. The start of the summer closed season moves northwards and so events in the north when the closed season has started in the south can attract over 6000 entries, from these only 1500 can start.
Budget
The MC budget for the year was FIM20000, at present approximately FIM3400 has been spent with income amounting to FIM1700.
Projects ISOM 2000 A separate meeting will be convened after this meeting which will include:
Quality Control CS attended an IOF Controller's Clinic in Finland with the aim of learning what if any instruction is given to controlling the map. There was no formal session at this clinic though CS gave a short talk on ISOM 2000 and then put several discussion questions to the instructor, Las Ake Larsson. It is apparent from this course and discussions with other IOF controllers that no formal instruction / discussion is given to controlling the map. A way of introducing map control to IOF controllers and others is needed, one way would be to publish a guideline with accompanying procedures / checklists. As a starting point it would be useful to get as much feedback as possible from existing IOF controllers by circulating a questionnaire.
Mapping Clinics SN led a Map Instructors' Clinic in Portugal in October with assistance from Alexander Shrinyan, a Russian mapmaker. 15 participants (10 from Portugal, 5 from Spain) took part in the 2˝ day clinic (˝ day planned for theory and 2 days practical, though heavy rain meant one of the practical days was spent indoors). The language used was English though very few spoke English and so the theory overran the allotted ˝ day. SN felt that 15 participants were too many for only 2 instructors, there should be no more than 4/5 participants per instructor.
SN is now making arrangements for a course in the Ukraine who would like instruction on both fieldwork and OCAD. Lech Trzpil from Poland is a possible Instructor.
MBO Mapping Informal discussions were held with MBO committee during WOC week, a review of existing MBO maps were made, the quality and style varied considerably, some had been fieldworked while others had been taken directly from public maps. Constructive comment was passed to the MBO committee for discussion. At present it is too early discuss mapping in detail as the rules of competition need to be established first, MC will not draft a specification yet but will maintain contacts.
Correspondence
Maps for WC 2000 in Finland A request was made for World Cup races, which is being combined with the Fin-5, to use maps printed at 1:10000. Some map e4xtracts were provided, the MC rejects this request and will suggest that the final maps include index contours (missing from extracts).
Maps for WMOC 1998 in Czech Republic Enquiry as to symbol size for maps enlarged to 1:10000. Suggest they follow current ISOM rules and enlarge to 150%. MC will investigate different enlargement ratios between map and symbol as part of the ISOM 2000 project.
MBO maps A request from Nhari Tsach, Israel on MBO map standards, will send a copy of the current MBO map guidelines.
IOF Ranking Events A request received from the Spanish O.F. which is staging an IOF ranking event in March for the map to be printed at 1:10000 scale. The area is only 6km2 and will need a map exchange for the classic race. Although the MC would prefer a 1:15000 map, in view of the time scale and status of the event the MC will accept the controller's decision.
IOF Ranking Events Following on from the above request the MC held a general discussion on these events. It conclusions were that because these events are not IOF events they are the responsibility of the host federation, the MC does not wish to get involved in individual discussions for 60+ events. If the map does not meet the rules then the event status should be downgraded; this responsibility may lie with the Foot-O committee.
Map Scales A memorandum regarding the MC's view on event type and appropriate map scale will be circulated to all member Federations.
Park / Town Orienteering
Samples of the park / town maps used during the PWT 1997 were reviewed, there is considerable variation in the symbolgy / colours used. Provided there is a positive outcome in Council's discussions on PWT then the MC will approach Jaroslav Kacmarcik who is the PWT representative for maps to discuss promoting a standard for these maps. Irrespective of the PWT decision there may be a need for producing a standard for park / town maps.
Congress and Post Congress
BR asks for the support of IOF representatives at the IOF Congress. All members of the MC would like to continue post Congress provided funding support from their respective Federations.
Any Other Business
It was confirmed that the 1999 International Conference on Mapping should take place in conjunction with WOC'99 in Scotland. CS will make some initial enquiries as to suitable venues / accommodation.
Date of next meeting
It is proposed that the next meeting will be held during the IOF Congress in Sintra, Portugal although some concern was expressed about the cost for the week and SN will need to leave before the end of Congress. A final decision will be made after further discussion on costs / availability.