Discussion: control codes on the map

https://www.facebook.com/OrienteeringMemes/photos/... I saw this meme on facebook and was thinking this could actually be usefull, anyone knows why we dont put them on our map next to the control?

It would hide more detail and we still need descriptions for feature descriptions so it makes sense to put the codes there and have less detail blocked by the single/double control number on the map.
For trainings I think having the control codes on the map is nice though.

On middle distance i could agree, but on long distance the controls are normally far enough from each other and you can put the number somewhere where it doesnt botter anyone.

We very commonly do put them on ski-orienteering maps. For conventional orienteering where the stuff near the control points is much more important for navigation than when most of the travel is on trails (as in the ski-O), avoiding excess overprinting of less crucial information on the map, particularly near the control circle, is sensibly avoided.

If you do not put codes on the map, you can print the map on Friday morning, then go put out controls during the day, and then print out clue sheets on Friday night at home. Maybe you have missed a bad e-punch or misplaced it, then you'll be able to change the control with a different one without having to reprint the map.

If you have clues on the map it is still easier to correct them by hand without reprinting the map.

So in short you can be sloppier in your organization if you do not have the codes next to the control circles.

AndOr, in other words, it is less likely that you would need to reprint say a hundred color maps, which may be costly.

Consider the safety issues too - the more of the map covered the less detail available - and not just close to control/circle. Other important features - either catching or attack- may be lost and for a less confident orienteer cause unnecessary difficulties and adverse outcomes.

I've prepared many, many courses for printing, of all lengths. It's hard enough to properly position control numbers without obscuring important details, never mind numbers with codes. A long course may be easier for many of the controls, but it will typically also have a section where things get crowded.

guskov, what you suggest is a bad idea. Have you ever had to deal with the computer operators the day before an event to say "Oh wait on, I've just changed the control code numbers again, please update the system' :-)

I commonly see relay maps with the control number next to the circle.

Ah, but we do not have any computer operators, just a download box connected to the printer. :-)

Doesn't someone have to put course details into the box though?

J, that makes sense considering that typically you would not get separate control descriptions in relays and it's such a pain to constantly unfold the map to check them :-)

Putting codes in box? The printer set just prints out the splits based on what controls you visited in whatever order you visited them in...doesn't actually code check.

We do the official results in the evening, so far it worked at our scale of operations.

Okay different country, different structure. In Australia the courses are pre-entered into the computer so when you get your printout, you know immediately whether or not you've successfully completed your course. I imagine at some point you have to do that though.

At larger meets, yes. At some smaller meets, it's just the simple printer (with no computer) that gives you what looks like a grocery receipt. And you're sometimes asked to print twice: once for yourself, and the other for the meet crew to use later to create the results list.

The printer may be simple, but is the download box smart? Is it one of those that you can connect to the computer, and extract the results from after the meet?

I think it might remember what it has seen. But it does not pass judgment on validity.

I don't get the "changing codes" problem. We typically have a numbered stand with a numbered epunch box. If we break a stand or it is stolen, we tape over a blank stand and write the number. Or we just use a blank stand and use tape and a marker to label a box with the right number, even if it is actually programmed as a different number. Usually it's trivial to fix the course in the download software (with the actual code) so it's seamless to the runner.

Sure, I am just saying that decoupling the map from the codes makes it a bit easier on the organizer. Just one less thing to worry about for a small meet.

Just revert to hand drawn courses.

CONDES and OCAD will do it automatically. And seeing how the code comes after the control number "it will block detail" doesn't make sense.

Is there some IOF regulations on this? Or is it possible to just start doing it at your own club events?

Try it at your own Club Event, see what the punters think. We did

Helsinki Night Challenge sprint series has replaced control descriptions with simple list of codes on map. And green dots in ring.
http://iso-henna.com/doma/show_map.php?user=Hapard...

Don't know why they don't put codes by the ring. There is sometimes no space, maybe.

Do you know why they went with green? Seems like magenta would be a natural choice for the dot.

Condes has a option to do a magenta dot

No idea, I have been wondering the same, why green. But I admit I haven't done any test prints myself to see what color works best - maybe there is reason.

I have been heard such dot approach has been suggested to our federation and sugegstion is getting processed (?), so we'll see what happens. Maybe having such dots becomes option for our national races.

Trouble with the Condes dot, is it isn't transplant, so blocks detail, especially small things like a high point

Centre of the control circle where should it be?
I once had a map with condes magenta dots (dunno why, everyone else had a normal map...). It was fun looking for all the new knolls on an overused area.

Tried the ski o dot at the last local meet forest foot o. On a quick glance I expected some extra feature at the spot, maybe I could be trained not to think of boulder or knoll. In the meantime it seems I prefer no dot for the forest.

One thing I have often wanted to try is having a blown up version of the control circle on a separate control description sheet instead of the standard control description. This could be at 1:5000 and have a dot in the middle. It would give more information than the current control descriptions, though you wouldn't get heights of features and a few other small things. It might also mean that you don't need to blow up maps to a larger scale quite so often because the most important areas of details are shown enlarged elsewhere.

How would it give more information?

CONDES already generates the little "blown up versions of the control circle" to help you cut the lines. But I don't know how to print it out
(I'm too lazy to do loads of screengrabs).

It gives more information to those of us too old to bring a 1:15000 map into focus! The downside is you might find me cluttering up the elite courses again ;)

@finna - are you still here?

I direct a series of local score-o's and I use control codes (101-124) instead of numbers (1-24). It's convenient that our club has control codes starting at 101, and for a score-o, there's no 1-2-3-n sequence to follow. This series doesn't have varying point values of controls (yes, it's technically not a true score-o), which further justifies using control codes printed on the map.

For a point-to-point race, I think I'd prefer sequence numbers, though.

So it's a scatter then?

@ Pink Socks: For our very similar series over summer months we have much the same scenario (control codes starting at 101, 20-30 controls, scatter) but why give control codes at all? We don't. Just a control number (1-20) next to the control, and a small font typed English description on the map.

We're with pink socks... although we only do 1 instead of a series, but we have the same set-up.

We have enough flags that the starting number indicates the number of points though.

100 series... 1 point
200 series... 2 points
300 series... 3 points