MDOC Town and Country weekend.

[andypat]

I have a zillion half-baked mapping projects - but you'll have to come up to join EUOC first:lol: .

I know the feeling - its quite hard to stop once you start - is there a rehab group or something for OCADdicts?

[Copepod]

I agree with Red Adder - thoroughly enjoyed the weekend but must admit it's the first urban event I've done where I had to 'shoo' cows out of the way to get to the exit gate!

I've encountered cattle in Newcastle upon Tyne (Leazes Park, Town Moor) and in / around Cambridge (Coe Fen, Midsummer Common, Coldham's Common, Coton, Wandlebury etc) and nearly always sacrifice speed to let them lick my hand or to stroke them.

Special appeal, as a member of staff looking after Coton Countryside Reserve and Wandlebury Country Park: please ensure that any controls are tied on more firmly than cows can lick, as they're inquistive creatures with strong tongues!

[AndyC]

I've encountered cattle in Newcastle upon Tyne (Leazes Park, Town Moor) and in / around Cambridge (Coe Fen, Midsummer Common, Coldham's Common, Coton, Wandlebury etc) and nearly always sacrifice speed to let them lick my hand or to stroke them.

Nato have also experienced them in Newburn and Prudhoe both of which (along with versions of the Town Moor potentially containing cattle) are in their current Summer Series -and two of which I might actually get to as they are on Sundays -planning duties permitting! We will continue to have nothing to do with the wild cattle a little further North

edit; I should have put the (Not so) Blatant Plug icon on this

[buzz]

Sounds like a fun event - shame I missed it.

Interested to read the comments on map colours which seemed to focus on subtle details. These pale into insignificance compared with the use of OLIVE GREEN for out of bounds.

For many colour blind people this can be confused either with yellow open areas or green bushes/forest depending on the vagouries of the printing process. This often makes route choice and navigation very difficult but more significantly leads to competitors inadvertently straying into areas that are out of bounds. The latter is a MAJOR issue as it could threaten the future of orienteering in sensitive urban areas.

If anyone as any influence or can let me know who to contact regarding this issue it would be much appreciated.

[RJ]

It should be possible to solve the problem fairly easily. Even for normal sighted people the olive green can be difficult to differentiate. But OOB areas are often shown with a vertical black stripe over the area symbol. The vertical stripe works really well.

It might be a good idea to put a vertical stripe onto the olive green areas. Exactly what colour the stripe should be, and what thickness the lines should be, can be decided by trial and error. The symbol needs to be easily recognised, and the areas of 'no-go' easily identified, but should not dominate the map.

[Gnitworp]

The Black on Saturday was excellent; one of the best Blue Courses I've run for ages

Looking forward to another challenging 'Blue' Course on the 'Black' at the SE Middle Champs next Sunday. Being SCOA was not eligible for the Championships so choice of course was a no-brainer

[Gnitworp]

I wasn't disappointed - thanks Ian

The 'Black' was pretty much a demonstration of optimal use of the best parts of an area. I'd have only removed one control (24 - a bit bingoy anyway because of vague veg boundaries) to produce a perfect Blue colour-coded course. I may have considered a long, down-into-or-round route choice leg for my 'classic' Blue course between the 2 main bits of woodland (assuming the field fences were crossable) but may well have rejected it in the interests of sustained technical quality, which is what I got today

[maprun]

Thanks Ian, I ran the blue course on Sunday, a good example of Middle Distance planning. I walked 25m on the way to 2 to study the intricate legs from 2 to 5. I'm pleased to say I spotted all the technical legs, but have to admit I did not slow down appropriately and blew it.