Course Overprints

[LesS]

From time to time over the last few years, but increasingly so recently, I have had enormous difficulty in seeing the course on my map. My optician says I do not have any colour-blindness and listening to conversations in the carparks afterwards, I am by no means the only person having this problem.

I find I am hunting all over the map at the start to find any out-of-place straight line or individual circle, finding a number and tracing back to the start, I am losing the line in contours and reading ring contours as control circles. Recently at an event, I have been moving towards the start official to say I've been given a blank map and at another, although I knew to a pinpoint where the start was, I could not see the triangle or any line going away from the start.

This was happening before waterproof paper came along - there is little difference with light for instance in forest or out on a moor - I know that there are colour standards for all the colours - the widths of lines and circles are all OK. This happens at events all over the country, so it's not a particular club, I haven't really researched whether it's the same printer although, again, specialist printers are unlikely to be getting the colours wrong even if 'local' printing was off. I recently heard that it was an 'ocad problem' but why then wouldn't all events be OK or 'off'?

My feeling is that the course overprint is just too faint and that not enough ink is being used whilst bearing in mind that we can't obliterate the map.

Does anyone have any insight into this?

[Wayward-O]

Can you see the courses when you're back home in good light? ISOM overprint 'purple' is 100% Magenta but some events use a different colour which is 100% Magenta + 20% Black which looks more purple and is better for people with colour blindness - I find this harder to distinguish because it's darker. Other problems could be with contours being printed too red, usually on lazer printed maps.

BTW, it would be useful if the start triangle could be included on the maps in the start lanes at events.

[IanD]

BTW, it would be useful if the start triangle could be included on the maps in the start lanes at events.

I would like to second this suggestion.

Quite often, it takes me ages to find the triangle. Usually, I end up scanning the map for a fairly low control number, and then try to trace the course back using the purple line. It probably only takes a few seconds, but it seems like longer and can be very frustrating. (Especially when, as happened at Ludlow recently, I trot off in the same direction everyone else took while searching for the triangle, and then find I have gone the wrong way).

One of the (many) reasons for moving from master maps to overprinted maps was that speed in copying down courses was not one of the 'orienteering' skills that we wished to be important in determining results. I would suggest that speed in spotting a triangle on a map is similarly not a skill we should be testing.

[EddieH]

At the Worls Masters sprint final in Australia I was already past my turn off before I'd found the start on the map

[graeme]

Same at the BOC sprints, may not have been a printing issue though..

My biggest error in the qualifier was standing still at the start trying to find the triangle.
My biggest error in the final was legging it after everyone else off the start while trying to find the triangle, and running past the control before finding the triangle.

What's the best strategy?

[andypat]

That is a really good point about the start triangle. Is there any reason in the rules why is not on the maps? When you get a warmup map/map to start at bigger events isnt it sometimes on that.

I also spend most of my time in the box trying to work out where the start is instead of looking at the wider map (which I assume is the point of it being there)

Once I get the competition map I work backwards along the numbers.

But, as noted in LesS original post, I think this is partly because the overprint often doesnt stand out enough from the map. Worse in sprint/urban because of crossovers and clutter too.

I'd a similar experience to Graeme in the PWT public race in Perth city centre when I was more or less at control 1 by the time I found the start on the map - there was pretty much only one way to go there though.

[Scott]

I confess to occasionally having the same finding-the-start-triangle problem. It's not so bad when we have a decent length taped route from the map boxes to the start kite - at least then I'm not standing still trying to find the triangle.

[Paul T]

Overprint quality seems to be one of the more variable aspects of maps. Looking through recent maps while completing the BO map survey, I thought the overprint on the championship maps was really clear. Some others weren't though ......

I do my fair share of triangle hunting and sometimes re-learn what happens when you run past the start kite without a plan for the first leg.
But I'd argue that finding the triangle is a skill. If you can use all the information and time available to help you make a good job of leg 1, then shouldn't that be an advantage? It is certainly possible to find your position on the blank map in the start lane, to work out how to pick up the map so that it is orientated and to know fairly well where to look for the triangle on the piece of paper when you pick it up. Skills can be practiced. I've spectated at a couple of WOCs and its impressive how the top runners get to grips with the map out of the start (though in that case the map is unseen and there's usually a runout).

If we think it's not skill that an orienteering race should test, then give everyone 30 seconds triangle-hunting-time or have a longer taped runout to the start kite. If we do that, then I'd also like my map pre-folded to a comfortable size for a left hand thumb compass user, and handed to me orientated please. Or perhaps those are also skills ....

[seabird]

Can you see the courses when you're back home in good light? ISOM overprint 'purple' is 100% Magenta but some events use a different colour which is 100% Magenta + 20% Black which looks more purple and is better for people with colour blindness - I find this harder to distinguish because it's darker. Other problems could be with contours being printed too red, usually on lazer printed maps.

Back to the main theme.

I haven't come across the Ocad magenta being supplemented with Black to improve the purple overprint , but have encountered a lot of examples of it being supplemented by Cyan (anything between 10 and 30%). Currently I am favouring 20% cyan 100% magenta, which seeems to be satisfactory for most runners. A greater level of cyan seems favoured by at least some colour blind folk, but becomes too dark for those who say they are not colour blind.

I struggle sometimes distinguishing the Ocad default purple from the Ocad default brown in highly contoured areas.

I would agree that there is considerable variation from one event to another as to how to show the purple.

[epocian]

In the Swiss 6 days you were given the course map at -1min, giving you a whole 60 secs
to find the start triangle

[distracted]

I haven't really researched whether it's the same printer although, again, specialist printers are unlikely to be getting the colours wrong even if 'local' printing was off.

Not necessarily. I've seen different maps from the same printer look different, probably because the club/planner have sent different format files e.g. converted to ocad from condes, or set purple to transparent, or made their own colour changes. Or the base map is using a different colour set/old symbol set - contours can vary from reddish or darkish brown on screen, and there are bright or 'orange' yellows; greens and blues look different on different OCAD files too.

Each model of laser printer appears to interpret colours differently, and so you need to make some fine adjustments to get the best colour balance. So adding cyan to the magenta might be fine on one printer, but appear far too dark on another. Unless the person running the printer adjusts the colour table of all incoming OCAD files then you will get different looking maps from the same printer.

I recently heard that it was an 'ocad problem' but why then wouldn't all events be OK or 'off'?

The defined overprint colour (spot colour printing) is PMS purple, which is apparently best represented by this colour (C 0%, M 75%, Y 5%, K 25%). However, the ISOM spec defines and OCAD uses 100% magenta for CMYK printing, which is this colour. Strange that they differ.

[Whitesheep]

While we're on the subject, can I make a general plea for partly transparent purple lines on laser printed maps? The small amount of transparency you get from an overprinted purple line makes a world of difference to clarity if you ask me. And if you ask my wife - who when she was learning once had a path route on her Orange course completely obscured by the purple line.

It also makes it much easier for the planner/controller/poor soul, who otherwise has to check each line carefully to see whether it obscures any detail.

[graeme]

I've seen different maps from the same printer look different, probably because ...

... at a recent event the printers forgot the all controls map. No problem, they ran a couple off when I got there, but the greens were much darker than on the competitors' maps.
So even the same map from the same printer can look different.

[Marco Polo]

It also makes it much easier for the planner/controller/poor soul, who otherwise has to check each line carefully to see whether it obscures any detail.

I think that partial transparency is a good idea- but checking all the lines is also definitely part of the planners and controllers job. Partial transparency or not the line on the orange course would have been better moved parrallell to and not obscuring the path.

[LesS]

Thanks for all the feedback. Trying to keep the original concise, leads to missing possibly relevant bits out.

I wear contact lenses to O and the carpark chats seem to indicate that lens wearers tend to suffer more. As one is long distance and the other for reading, maybe that exacerbates the effect. It is possible that the problem started when I had to switch to this set-up from both being the same but as that is some years ago it's not possible to work out. By the later stages of a run, I find it much easier so I must gradually adjust to it. Looking at maps after the events with my specs on, there is not the same level of problem but of course by then, I know where the course is - just as we all suddenly see features that we totally missed during the run.

The other bit missing was probably that it is the level of red component of the overprint that is the major factor. The overprints I have problems with appear to be pale blue-grey rather than purple (to use a non-technical phrase) so disappear into all the other colours. This tends to merge into all the other colours. When there is plenty of red in the mix I have no problem at all.

I had been wondering whether perhaps a mistaken change to the percentage of red had been saved in a version of software and had moved out round the clubs but the explanation from distracted that all the factors I'd thought of - the human side, the particular printer - hardware and software - the ink - the planning software - all with their little variations were working together to cause me and others some problems. I'm not sure however, that the enormous range of colours - from almost bright red to pale blue-grey all fit within the spec.

I suppose at the end of the day, when the planner and controller look at the printed map and it looks OK to them, there's absolutely nothing more that can be done ( but make sure you've got enough red in the mix!!)

(And I'll add my voice to those wanting the start triangle shown on the maps in the start lane)