Orienteering Federation of Australia


30th May 1997
To : The Secretariat
International Orienteering Federation
Attention ISOM/2000 Working Group

Attached are papers and disk forming the initial submission from the Orienteering Federation of Australia to the ISOM/2000 process.

The submission represents current best practice in Australia in particular for the mapping of granite and other rock terrains in which there are evident weaknesses in the current ISOM. Our recommendations and practice were largely developed in the 1985 series of maps produced for the World Championships and demonstrated further in maps for numerous Australian Championships as well as World Cup and Veteran World Cup events. We believe that our approach has had universal support from international and local orienteers who have competed at these events.
We have concerns about the future process for the ISOM revision, particularly as we are unlikely to have personal contact at meetings. We believe that every submissíon received should be placed in full on the Internet so that distant countries are not at a disadvantage. A disk with our full submission is included (Microsoft Works for Windows) to assist with this process.

We commend our approach and recommendations to the ISOM/2000 Working Group and look forward to the next steps in the process.

On behalf of the Orienteering Federation of Australia


REVISION OF INTERNATIONAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR ORIENTEERING MAPS

The following submission has been developed by a Select Committee nominated by the Mapping Committee of the Orienteering Federation of Australia. It is submitted to the ISOM/2000 Project Team with the approval and full support of the Orienteering Federation of Australia.

1. Select Committee membership
Alex Tarr (Convenor)

Eric Andrews
Warren Key Robert Plowright Adrian Uppill All members of the Committee are current competitive orienteers within their age classes. Most members have extensive experience in organising and controlling major events and the fulltime mappers in the group have been responsible for fieldwork and drawing of 90% of the maps for major Australian events over recent years.

2. General

Orienteering developed in Europe and a great majority of member countries of the IOF are European. Early editions of ISOM tackled very successfully the problems of Scandinavian and Central European terrains. More recent editions have been much more successful in meeting the needs of non European terrains. The concerns of Australia with its granite and gold-mining terrains have been largely met either through the Specification itself or by use of the 20% variation in symbol size that is permitted.
International orienteering requires an ISOM that is equally applicable in orienteering terrains throughout the world. ISOM meets the needs of Europe and the north temperate forest zones. The ultimate test of the next edition of ISOM will be its applicability and degree of relevance in terrains not regularly met in Europe. Australia contends that the Project Team should give extra weight to submissions from countries in which there are terrains that are being newly developed for orienteering.

3. Areas of concern

From an Australian perspective there are only minor problems with the symbols in the current edition, however as the process develops regular input may be required to maintain ISOM's local relevance. Areas that are known that need to be addressed are:

1 . minor symbol changes (size of rocky ground dots, boulder field symbol),

2. review of symbol sizes to maintain legibility with the overall thinner line weights obtained with use of computer drawn maps.

3. minimum standards for various levels of events for maps produced by offset, colour photocopy and colour printers attached to personal computers.

4. addressing of the "map the feature that is obvious to the runner" versus the "map the feature that only meets the mathematical criteria" argument. The present introduction, which is also current Australian practice, follows the "obvious" criteria. Recent arguments from overseas mapping circles are stipulating the "mathematical" approach (see recent articles on mapping of greens).

Points One and Two have been addressed Iocally through a document "Mapping of rock features, Australian guidelines." This document has been circulated widely among Australian mappers and has been officially adopted as "best practice" by the Orienteering Federation of Australia. A copy of the document together with an accompanying revised symbol Iist in OCAD format is enclosed and form part of Australia's official response to the ISOM revision process.
Point Three is an area in which Australia professes no especial expertise. However we are extremely concerned that enthusiasm for new technologies may lead to the use in international orienteering competitions of printed maps that do not have the legibility, precision and durability of maps produced by offset printing. The revised ISOM must address this problem probably through specifying minimum standards that retain the present advantages to the competitor of standard offset printing.
Point Four addresses a conflict between the General Requirements section of the present ISOM and what is perceived as an increasing movement towards a strict mathematical approach to the interpretation and mapping of features. Australia contends that the key sentence under Content is "The map must contain the features which are obvious on the ground to the competitor at running speed."
This should be highlighted in future editions. Mappers can and must develop some mathematical criteria for features to be mapped. These criteria will meet most situations, however any feature which meets the "obvious" criteria must also be mapped.

IOF Mapping Conference

Unfortunately due to the costs of travel and attendance our Committee will not be present at the Conference in August. We trust that your Committee will represent our ideas sympathetically. Please contact me for any extra information or expansion of the above points.

Alex Tarr


MAPPING OF ROCK FEATURES
AUSTRALIAN GUIDELINES

Adopted by the Orienteering Federation of Australia 29th Mareh 1997


INTRODUCTION

The mapping of rock in recent years has been one of the strengths of orienteering in Australia. This has been largely because our granite terrain has presented challenges to mappers which test them to their limits particularly in the areas of interpretation and generalisation. Paramount has been the need to present to the competitor a map that conforms to the International Specifications, is legible to the competitor on the run and presents no surprises to the competitor when entering new terrain. The current mapping styles for granite developed from the WOC '85 series of maps and was confirmed, standardised and publicised in an annual series of Mapping Workshops held up to the early 1990's.
Currently these standards may need to be publicised and reinforced to assist a new generation of mappers. Additionally the use of OCAD and other software far drawing has presented new problems which need to be addressed. Accordingly the following is a documentation of what I believe is current best mapping practice in Australia. It must be noted that these are guidelines and not rules. Individual mappers as they gain experience will develop their own flexible approach to problems confronting them. If the results conform to IOF Specifications then they are acceptable. However the final test is acceptance by both competitors and other mappers. Constructive criticism from these quarters must be accepted, and acted upon.

INTERNATIONAL SPECIFICATIONS

For orienteering to be sustained as an international sport then maps in all countries must conform to the International Specification for Orienteering Maps. There is no doubt that excellent granite maps are made within these Specifications and to move outside them is both unnecessary and in fact puts overseas competitors at a disadvantage when competing here, and our own orienteers at disadvantage when competing overseas.
Within the International Specifications symbol sizes may be varied by up to 20% and within certain symbols options are available. It is primarily by using size variation and these options that the detail of granite areas are best represented in our maps. Below are listed those variations which have been widely incorporated into Australian mapping practice.

COMPUTERISED MAP DRAWING

Drawing of orienteering maps by computer is now the norm and OCAD has become a virtual industry standard. Fieldwork is still carried out in the traditional way, however the computer drawn map often has distinctive features which the drawer must be aware of. The first of these is that line widths are absolutely correct, with drawing with ink there was always a spread of ink so that a line specified to be drawn with a 0.25 pen was actually 0.26 to 0.3 in thickness. In OCAD the default contour is 0. 13 at printed size, yet in all maps the OCAD contour appears too thin. Secondly the standard for point features was the sheets of "Letraset" type symbols that were widely available. No matter their origin these were invariably slightly larger than the strict IOF Specification.
Thus using the default symbols in OCAD while technically correct will give an incorrect picture. Some users have taken this to mean that with thinner lines more detail cart be mapped, but with this approach maps are losing their legibility. In these guidelines recommended Iine and symbol sizes for OCAD are given and a standardised symbol set in OCAD is available through myself or Eric Andrews which conforms to these guidelines

FIELDWORK OF ROCK FEATURES-GENERAL

SCALE

For classic event orienteering the IOF approved scale is 1:15,000 and this scale should be used for national level events in Australia. In complex areas 1:10,000 scale prints of the 1:15,000 map should be produced for older and younger age groups. Additionally 1:10,000 scale maps may be used for short event orienteering for elite classes. For both 1:15,000 and 1:10,000 maps fieldwork should be at the. scale of 1:7,500.

ROCK SYMBOLS

The following notes should be read in close conjunction with the IOF Specifications, they supplement the Specifications for Australian conditions. These notes do not replace the IOF Specifications.

201 Impassable cliffs

202 Rock pillars/cliffs

  • This is an area feature showing a massive boulder to scale.
  • It does not make sense for this symbol to be used for both rock pillars (massive boulders) and cliffs as the orienteer cannot picture in advance what the terrain will look like. It is Australian practice to only use this symbol for massive boulders which can be shown as area features to the correct scale on the map.
  • Like all features these boulders are mapped from the orienteers viewpoint, that is the impression gained when running into and through an area rather than a close-up examination of the feature. Thus stits or cracks in the rocks are ignored if the overalt impression is of a single entity. Medium boulder 208 Boulder field 209 Boulder cluster 214 Stony ground 212 Bare rock 112 Small knoll Additional symbols

    There is a potential danger in the use of OCAD in the ease in which additional symbols can be made. Local experience shows that except for those listed above there is no advantage in using additional symbols. Even symbols such as 208 Boulder field, which the Specifications give a range of sizes, meet almost every situation with three variants. Producing a greater number of symbols greatly complicates the fieldwork process with illegible differences in the printed map.

    A disk with a default OCAD symbol set and a legend which includes all the variations listed in these guidelines together with relevant changes needed for gold-miníng terrain is available from myself.

    RELATION OF ROCK FEATURES TO OTHER SYMBOLS

    Other black features

    The representation of man-made features among areas of rock presents some difficulty for the mapper if legibility is to be maintained. Tracks are of major significance to the orienteer, to ensure that it is legible on the map thé track should be mapped first. If necessary the surrounding rock can be shifted slightly and generalised so that the track becomes the central figure. With black point features the mapper must first make a judgement about the importance of the feature to the orienteer and if it is to be mapped. If it is to be mapped it must be legible among the surrounding rock features. This can be achieved by generalisation as described in Section 2.4 of the IOF Specifications.

    Brown features

    Rock faces and cliffs should bear a strong relationship to the underlining contours with the contour being extremely likely to be on the cliff line. Similarly bare rock areas often form areas of raised ground or spurs and this should also be reflected in the contours.

    Blue features

    Clear space must be allowed so that the short watercourses, small marshes and other water features are clearly legible. Care must be taken that the correct PMS blue is used, if a darker blue is used the small circular waterholes are easily confused with boulders.

    Green features

    In detailed areas passageways between and through rock features are important to the orienteer. The greens must be mapped to reflect this.

    Yellow features

    There is a fine dividing line between bare rock and open land. The judgement should be made on the impression gained on first entering the area. If the impression is of runnable rock then it should be mapped as bare rock even if it is generally covered with lichen or moss. If a grassed clearing then as open. The area can be generalised with open areas having small areas of bare rock and bare rock areas having some small grassed strips or patches.

    VARIATIONS TO IOF SPECIFICATIONS

    In many detailed granite maps the mapper may find one or two places where a minor variation to IOF Specifications seems necessary. This may entail the use of a symbol in a non standard way or a non-standard variation in size or shape of á symbol. This is allowable provided the site is not used for or is not crucial in finding a control site.

    Any significant variation from IOF Specifications or from practise spelt out in this document must under OFA Technical Regulations be approved by the relevant mapping body. For international listed events (including Australian Championships) this'is the IOF Mapping Committee. For national listed events (including Easter 3 Day, State Individual Championships and Badge events) approval is required from the Chair of the OFA Mapping Committee. Variations for other maps requires the approval of the relevant State Delegate to the OFA Mapping Committee.

    Alex Tarr
    Chair OFA Mapping Committee

    For comments ar further information on these guidelines contact:
    Alex Tarr
    35 Astley Street Montmorency Vic. 3094
    tel. (03) 9435 8035



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