Do tell. How many are you working on? Are you going to come east to do the fieldwork?
Well, not entirely sure how many yet. Starting with one pilot project doing Trinity Bellwoods Park. I am not planning on coming east to do the fieldwork, I'm working with Mark Innes who will be doing the fieldwork on the ground. I'll be doing all the manual labour parts - setting up the templates, georeferencing, tracing of roads and as much other stuff from aerials as possible, etc. I'm not sure how Mark is planning on doing fieldwork yet, but I think I'll be doing the final touch-ups on drafting, possibly putting all of his fieldwork in as well.
Once this map is done TOC will evaluate things, then if everything is good, I believe the plan is to georeference and convert the existing High Park and Etienne Brule maps into ISSOM, and then do a bunch more maps around the downtown waterfront area primarily.
I'll start on the mapping during Christmas Break once I'm done exams - I have 4 exams this coming week and 1 the week after.
Cool - sounds like a great setup for you and for Toronto. Do a lot of the time consuming labour remotely (and get you some decent money for it hopefully) then have someone local do the fieldwork so they don't have to bring in a mapper.
Looking forward to seeing how it all works out.
In the mean time - good luck with your exams!!
Yep! TOC and myself are super excited to work with David.
Personally I'm very impressed with his work - he's obviously a very talented mapper. I can't wait to set courses with his awesome maps! I also look forward to learning a thing or two, and doing away with my 90's mapping style.
One thing I reiterated with David is that there are no strict timelines for these maps. I understand that school and training are his priorities. Any time he can allocate to map is gravy - and valued.
This partnership is so important for orienteering in Toronto. The city lacks accessible forest orienteering, but sprint-wise there's a tonne of potential.
I admire (and am envious) of the healthy sprint communities in Vancouver, Seattle, Melbourne...etc. We have a long long way to go here in Toronto, but at least we're moving in the right direction.
the healthy sprint communities in... Seattle
I wouldn't call the sprint community in Seattle healthy, to be honest. SART makes for a nice facade, but if you look behind the curtain, it's mostly just me making maps and designing courses. If I get hit by a bus tomorrow, SART 2018 doesn't happen.
I think we're behind Boston and San Francisco (both have experienced more than one ISSOM mappers and sprint-y elites. Also, Louisville, Kentucky is sneaky good at sprints. They've been building a nice summer series of sprints there that's brought them a lot of success.
Ok...I admire and wish to emulate Seattle's competitive and well participated sprint tournament. I think an annual sprint tournament in Toronto would be welcomed out here in the east.
...and I am envious of urban centres with established navigation-based annual series, youth programs, etc.
Bottom line is that with a population of around 3 million within the city limits, and 6.5 million (and growing) in the GTA, more people should be running around with maps and pyjamas (optional) in our parks and urban environments.
I know it won't be easy - I recognize that finding new people is the perpetual crux of our sport. But I believe the new standard of maps we produce can generate appeal - but that might just be the map dork in me.