Occassional thoughts about orienteering
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| okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering |
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Monday, September 11, 2006 The perfect mapFrom a discussion on Attackpoint:There is no such thing as perfect O-map. Is there a perfect O' map? I would argue that there is such a thing as the perfect O' map. The perfect orienteering map lets you make appropriate route choices (matching your physical and technical abilities) and navigate along those routes. The perfect orienteering map has no inaccuracies that you can notice as you use the map in an orienteering race. I think my criteria for "perfect" are quite close to the introduction to the IOF mapping standards. I can think of a few maps that were very close to perfect...maybe even perfect. I'm thinking of some of the maps near Laramie, some of the 1993 WOC maps, and some of the maps from the 1978 WOC maps(though it has been a long time since I was on those maps). What do you think - is there such a thing as a perfect map? Which maps might be perfect? Questions and Answers In a comment on yesterday's post, Jan asked: Isn't it easier to be closer to the winner in a sprint race than in other distances? I guess there was no sprint distance when Kristin Hall and Pavlina Brautigam made their WOC debuts? Those are exactly the sorts of questions the WOC results database is made to answer! Yes, it is (or at least it has been) easier to be close to the winner in a sprint race. The WOC results database has a simple query for finding out how far behind the winner you can be given a specific overall place. You can find out, for example, that to finish in 10th place, you'd need to be X percent behind the winner. I ran the query for 10th place, and the sprint races are much more likely to be tighter than the other distances (which is consistent with it being easier to be close to the top). The results database also confirms that 2001 was the first sprint race, long after both Pavlina and Kristin had their WOC debuts. posted by Michael | 7:29 PM 
Comments:
How many orienteers do you know who are quick to blame the map when they come unstuck? We tend to judge the perfection of a map by how many errors we have made. So I think that a map may be perfect one day for one person and less than perfect the next for a different person. I suppose this is a claim that perfection is subjective.
# posted by
 : 3:36 AM
The way one read and understand the map is different from one to another.
Perfection in mapping might only be subjective from one to another. It depends on how one is used to a terrain and its representation. There is also different mapping style depending on where the mapper comes from. Czech mappers are really good to represent vegetation, swedish ones sometimes even don't map it at all. # posted by
: 7:04 AM
The more interesting the terrain, the more difficult it it to represent it perfectly. And in some terrain, there is seasonal variation that makes it impossible to create a map that's perfect year-round. But there are certainly some maps (Pawtuckaway among them) about which I have no complaints.
Do you have the WOC78 maps scanned? can you eventually send them to me??? pleaase ;)
# posted by
: 2:51 PM
Ivo, I'm not sure if I still have them (I ran on the map in 1986). If I can find them, I'll let you know.
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