Training Log Archive: dbakker

Event: Canada Day Red Squad Training
 

Crazy smokey up here in Whitehorse right now. When I'm in the forest, I can see the haze looking through the trees. You can totally forget about trying to look across the valley at Grey Mountain, visibility is way less than that. Still really hot, and was at 95% humidity this morning. Tons of mosquitoes today too.

One more day of fieldwork on Porter Creek, and one more day on Yukon College and then its just more drafting tidy-up work.

Mock Middle Distance at Red Squad training on Chadburn Lake map.

Splits added earlier, apparently just one click to assign them to a pre-made course if you hit the lap button during the run. Awesome little things hidden in Attackpoint!

GPS viewable by everyone, so you should be able to compare Forest's routes and mine.

Middle - Splits

Spent most of the day helping to clean up the YOA membership stuff with Sabine and Erik.

Met up with Hannah Bates downtown today too.

Fixed the bike.

Next up: catch up on emails.

Roughing in biking time for the entirety of the past week.

Checking out some terrain that looks cool from contours. Will post map pics on Monday, but we are at 95% of allowed internet use for the month, so holding off for now.

Run to start.

Run back to car.

No GPS track cause limited internet.

Two (maybe 1) more day of fieldwork on Yukon College. Then exporting over to OCAD for final clean-up work in OCAD.

I really wish everyone would just start using Open Orienteering Mapper - cause this OCAD licencing thing is a real pain in the butt.

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//Rant Ahead//

In related news, I've finally gone and looked at a bunch of the changes in the new sprint standard - and I am not a fan of a lot of them. That said there are some good changes too.

Good Things:
- Filling Prominent Trees with White ->I've been doing this for a long time anyways.
- Removing the Urban/Non-Urban pavement stuff. I've just always used the urban symbol set except for major trails in forested areas where the darker pavement colour actually helps readability.
- Better multi-dimensional mapping symbols
- Wider small trail/indistinct trail symbols
- Adding border line to olive green sections -> Did this already anyways with cultivation boundary symbol.
- Reduction in minimum sizes for boulders/knolls/cup depression -> we all kinda played around with this on sprint maps anyways.

Bad Things
- Removal of 100% Green 50% Black colour & Impassable Vegetation changing to 100% Green
- Removal of Grey Passable wall and changing it to the rock wall. Kinda weird addition of a retaining wall symbol that I don't think will be very readable at speed. I've always just used the wall symbol for a retaining wall, and the fence symbol for even elevation (unless there isn't enough space for the tick marks, in which case it looks like a wall).
- Weird pavement colours depending on expected amount of traffic. This is great for the world cup, but for smaller local level events I'm yet to be convinced that this is practical or actually works.
- Thicker edge of paved area black lines - old width was better.
- Thicker Cultivation Boundary symbol - old width was better.
- Thicker Canopy boundary symbol - old width was better.
- Small tree/bush getting bigger and a white dot inside. I mean, it's going to really hard for park type maps to respect minimum distances when trees are planted in rows.
- Adding a defined Stairway symbol. Uh why? and the thicker line widths and minimum widths are also a problem. If you actually respected the old guidelines and exagerated things as needed, the maps were perfectly legible if the mapper did a good job. Just go look at Patrick Nuss's maps in Seattle.

A bunch of other small modifications were made, but are for the most part of very little impact in my opinion.
//End Rant//

C • OOM 1

On my current mapping project I have run into a number of Canada survey posts...

The Devolution of the Survey Post

A Picture Story

1946

In the years following World War Two, the times may have been hard, but the survey post was nevertheless the source of pride for the nation. All small details were given due care and attention. The centre of the survey post was carefully smoothed off to ensure a good foundation for engraving the vital survey information in the field.

While the exterior portion was mass produced and less polished, it was no less carefully designed. His Royal Majesty George VI's crown was central to the design, and situated in a position of prominence at the top - the rightful place of the crown. The details on the crown were engraved with stunning precision.
In addition to the intricate ornamentation, the functionality was also carefully considered. The survey post clearly indicated its purpose - to survey the lands of the Dominion. It also clearly indicated not to remove the survey post, for doing so would incur a seven year jail sentence. No extra words were used, nor were too few; the importance of the post was conveyed astutely.

The survey post location is strongly supported by a large cairn, of which the post itself is the summit, ensuring the stake fulfills its duty while enabling easy locating.

1963

While the design remains much the same as that of the 1946 masterpiece, the 1963 survey post deteriorates somewhat. While the entire surface is polished to a smooth surface, this in fact detracts from its functionality, as the central information critical to its function is no longer at a lower level compared with the exterior, and is more subject to abrasion and weathering.



The name has changed to Canada Lands Surveys, as opposed to the Dominion, emphasizing the changing political identity of the region.

The details on the crown are no longer apparent, and the overall manufacturing detail is decreased.

The post is merely planted in the ground, with no cairn to support its claim.

1972

This monstrosity of a design loses any attempt to incorporate beauty into function. Despite its rugged appearance and failure to please the eye, the functionality of the survey post is nevertheless reduced. Instead of a single piece for both shaft and head of the post, the 1972 design instead uses an inferior, rust-prone metal for the stem while the flower is reduced to a monotonous piece of roughly cast steel. Instead of a carefully etched title for the post, the Canada Lands Survey projects from the surface, increasing its vulnerability to the elements and decreasing its legibility. Only the last two digits of the year remain engraved, and that is in a large raised block of steel that causes even the most casual observer to cringe.



The surveying information itself is engraved haphazardly on the roughly hewn surface, with nary a thought to the reader or the legibility of the surface. Without access to the centre of the post the head of the post cannot carefully display azimuths to the reader from a point of origin, but must attempt the impossible around the cruel iron spike driven through its heart.

GPS Died a few hours before I stopped... forgot to charge it up yesterday. Oops.

Back on the green hill of the Yukon College map.

More work on the ISSOM in Porter Creek.