Street or Urban orienteering?

[Paul Frost]

Listen to Colin Matheson (Scottish Orienteering professional Officer), who was on the radio this morning, iPlayer link (he's on at 1:21:50) or the Outdoors podcast when he's first up.

The first thing that struck me was that the term "Street Orienteering" was being used, nowhere in the entire 6 minute interview was the word "Urban" used.

I have always used the term "Urban" and it seemed to be the most common amongst orienteers and orienteering websites, so I was wondering if we had just wasted a prime marketing slot to promote a sport we don't provide.

But doing a Google search for "street orienteering" returns 42,100 results compared to 35,600 for "urban orienteering", so it at first it looks like "street" is the winner. But looking at the links, IMO the "urban" ones seem more relevant.

It's also interesting that the wikipedia page for orienteering does not mention street or urban in the list of competition types.

The Newcomers Guide on the British Orienteering site makes no mention of urban or street orienteering. But there is Event Guideline E: Urban Events, so does that make "Urban" the official name for it?

Fortunately orienteering is a confusing sport, so having confusing/different descriptions for event types ensures that potential participants are confused before they even start!

Given that urban/street orienteering is one area that we seem to be able to attract non-orienteers to try, perhaps we should try and adopt one description or the other and stick to it.

[The Cumbrian]

Urban...

Cos we're not just on the streets, Urban events regularly pass through parks etc so it seems the appropriate description.

[Mrs H]

Yep spot on Cumbrian.
Besides "urban" sounds edgy and exciting, "street" sounds....well...pedestrian

[usuallylast]

Yep spot on Cumbrian.
Besides "urban" sounds edgy and exciting, "street" sounds....well...pedestrian

I usually say urban, but I would think 'street' is probably more edgy - quoting from Wikipedia here:

Street sports are an expression of the spontaneous, improvisational and creative origins of sport adapted by human ingenuity to the urban environment

[greywolf]

apples and oranges

"street" describes a terrain type, but not a particular form of competition: a street orienteering race could be sprint, middle or long, or a score (and any given race might include a mix of street and other terrain types)

whereas "urban" (in BOF/NUL usage), has come to mean a particular form of competition usually held in towns and which usually involves some street orienteering (at least for over 16s).

And not all orienteering events held in towns and cities are "urban"

http://www.dearman.org.uk/Moravian/gadg ... =12&kieli=
http://www.euoc.routegadget.co.uk/euoc/ ... d=5&kieli=

if you're trying to get across the idea that it's not just about running around remote hillsides and forests then maybe "street-o" is a better bet.

"urban" might be "edgy and exciting" in some contexts...but not usually in orienteering (although I look forward to the compulsory hoodie rule and the EUOC / SHUOC rivalry branching out into gang signs and drive-bys )

[andy]

urban urban urban
I've been trying really hard to get other club members using urban over street..

[Paul Frost]

And not all orienteering events held in towns and cities are "urban"
http://www.dearman.org.uk/Moravian/gadg ... =12&kieli=
http://www.euoc.routegadget.co.uk/euoc/ ... d=5&kieli=
if you're trying to get across the idea that it's not just about running around remote hillsides and forests then maybe "street-o" is a better bet.

I wouldn't describe either of those events as urban or street, they are predominantly what we tend to call "normal" orienteering. The fact that may be within the city/town limits is irrelevant, and calling them street or urban events would be misleading to experienced orienteers as well as joe public.

Wikipedia description:

An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it.

If the event was in an urban park (Glasgow has lots) it would be best described as Park-O.

I admit that Street-O would be more descriptive if it was all on streets.
Which is why I would favour Urban-O as the generic term for events that take place in the urban environment, predominantly on streets but parkland could be part of the course.

We should now throw Sprint-O into the confusion. As I understand it these can be in forest locations, although normally held in parks & streets.

My personal interpretation is that Sprint means very short & fast (less than 20 minutes), Urban means longer (30+ minutes).

I know many orienteers think street/urban/park are other names for Sprint-O (fast) and so are not attracted to try it. But if you can get them to try a longer urban event, like the recent Edinburgh one, they discover that it's a full on navigational challenge that can be as enjoyable as the forest, but different.

As I said before, orienteering is confusing already, so let's try and make it clearer and easier to promote/market.

[greywolf]

I wouldn't describe either of those events as urban or street,

nor did I ... (although the Forres race included some street orienteering)

but you've missed the point: street & urban aren't interchangeable. Within orienteering "urban" denotes a particular type of event, with characteristic course lengths and dominant orienteering styles, likewise "sprint" which is very clearly defined (sounds like "many orienteers" need to wake up). Whereas "street" orienteering refers to the terrain rather the type of race: street orienteering could be as part of an urban or a sprint race, or some other type of event entirely.

If you're promoting the sport externally then using "street" makes clear what's really different cf. forest events, and it also makes sense to use a word that we don't already have a specific definition for.

[andy]

Street Orienteering, to me, is running about streets using a photocopied A-Z map with some red circles on it.
Urban is where you are having to navigate intricately, not just run along a street and make sure you are turning at the right place.

I think courses lengths and winning times are mostly irrelevant in this distinction, but obviously are if you are comparing Urban with Sprint (which are often, but not always, on the same terrain)

[Paul Frost]

but you've missed the point: street & urban aren't interchangeable. Within orienteering "urban" denotes a particular type of event, with characteristic course lengths and dominant orienteering styles, likewise "sprint" which is very clearly defined (sounds like "many orienteers" need to wake up). Whereas "street" orienteering refers to the terrain rather the type of race: street orienteering could be as part of an urban or a sprint race, or some other type of event entirely.

If you're promoting the sport externally then using "street" makes clear what's really different cf. forest events, and it also makes sense to use a word that we don't already have a specific definition for.

I agree that Urban-O probably does have an identifiable image to existing orienteers as a type of event (but possibly confused with Sprint by some). But promoting it as Street-O to non-orienteers could be misleading, as it may very well include some "off-street" terrain. Whilst Urban-O could be more all-encompassing of the varied terrain that could be found in an urban environment.

But the main points is that we SHOULD/MUST use the same terms across the country, so that any marketing/promotion can use the same language and avoid any confusion.
The replies above just show why we need to sort this out now, before it becomes too late.

[Adrian]

But doing a Google search for "street orienteering" returns 42,100 results compared to 35,600 for "urban orienteering", so it at first it looks like "street" is the winner.

Need to be careful with Google hit counts. There are in fact 322 UK ghits for "street orienteering" and 565 UK ghits for "urban orienteering".

Urban is the normal term for serious races afaiaa, so I'm not sure why Colin didn't use it. As has already been said, street-O identifies the more informal type of event that many clubs put on on weekday evenings, e.g. http://www.harlequins.org.uk/leagues_nsl.html

[greywolf]

Urban is the normal term for serious races afaiaa, so I'm not sure why Colin didn't use it

they seemed to be going round part of the Perth PWT course - which was a Sprint race, not an Urban ...

[madmike]

Sorry GW I must be missing your point as according to me sprint is a distance whilst urban is a terrain type......

[Paul Frost]

Sorry GW I must be missing your point as according to me sprint is a distance whilst urban is a terrain type......

Or is it an Event type?

[AlanB]

It has got to be urban.

I like the idea that I'm a SOUL man. SOSL doesn't have quite the same aura about it.