Discussion: Taping

Exactly the same situation as at Mandurah where part of the garden had been cleared, and also at many of our uni/school campuses where students cross and trample the garden down.

I now think for a major event, these areas MUST be taped off, especially close to a control, but for lesser events why can't the mapper simply do the sensible thing and draw a gap?

Hard to make out from your map, but it looks like there is a black line across the river between 5 & 6, possibly it is a series of black dots. Since paths lead to it, I think it is an intentional landscaping feature, and therefore the mapper should have drawn a bridge. Note that the footbridge symbol in ISOM is not permissible in ISSOM, so two bridge symbols (512.1) are required.

I agree entirely with you there. I certainly deserved to be dsq, there is no question about that, but when 1/4 of the field gets disqualified something is wrong.

Course setting urban sprints is a minefield, as is mapping for them. I think its hard to expect taping for a training event though. In mapping for the Easter Prologue, I made a rule that every area of tan bark was out of bounds, even if there were informal paths across it. I hope I stuck to it. I also exaggerated the width of all tan bark areas to make them as obvious as possible. Perhaps the best solution for a training event is a statement that all tan bark is out of bounds. The other way of looking at this is that it was training for course setters as well. Perhaps lessons learnt there as well without any real consequences. I'd call that a good result.

I certainly agree with the taping at higher-level events where there is any ambiguity on the ground - we did this at last year's Australian Sprint in a few places (one spot in particular where there was an informal path). Didn't even think about not using the stepping stones (which, if you look very closely, are mapped as three boulders) - as a former ANU student these stepping stones are a well-recognised crossing. Presumably another mapping approach there would be to have a small break in the uncrossable bank line at this point?

Good suggestion Blair, but the breaks would have to be large enough to be obvious. Another alternative is to put a crossing point symbol (728) there.