okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering
Monday, January 26, 2004
Orienteering on a basemap
I'm in Arizona for work this week. But, I began the work trip with a short O' trip to Tucson. Mook and I ran three sessions on Saturday on a bit of a basemap.
Orienteering on a basemap was not much different from orienteering on a finished O' map. Here and there you'd come across an area where the contours didn't fit, but for the most part the map was easy to use. That's largely because the terrain is open, so the photogrametry is quite accurate.
The terrain we ran in was mostly open land with a scattering of trees. You could move quite fast (even if I didn't). The area sits at an altitude of about 5000 feet, which is enough to feel but not so much that you feel lousy. Unlike some of the terrain in southern Arizona, there is very little thorny vegetation -- a pleasant surprise.
The Tucson O' club bought 42 square kilometers of basemap. That'll make for a lot of good orienteering once they get the fieldchecking done. I don't know if they've got plans to use the area for an A-meet. If they do, I plan to go.
posted by Michael |
5:59 PM
