New Mapping Tool

[Red Adder]

I see someone called Thomas Schops is attempting to create a new mapping tool OpenOrienteering Mapper which will eventually be available both as freeware and with open source code so that anyone can takes a version of its development where they will. It sounds like a massive undertaking.

Its design looks very similar to OCAD but before anyone jumps in its first offering is very limited and I don't see that any version before Milestone 3 of his development plan would be really worthwhile using for amap project as only then does it start to approach the minimum functionality available in OCAD. I don't know what the timescales are but it did take OCAD 15 years to reach the excellence of OCAD9. Already the clarity of guides that will be used in editing feature looks superior to OCAD but on the other hand some aspects of the symbol editing facility do not look at all intuitive.

All I can say at this stage is best of luck to Thomas, and I look forward to seeing future versions as they are released.

[Big Jon]

If it doesn't accept files from OCAD and produce compatible file format I can only see it causing chaos! Plus the need to be readable by Condes (though I guess Finn can probably sort this one).

[Angry Haggis]

Thomas is keeping a blog updated with Open Orienteering Mapper development news - it's at http://oorienteering.sourceforge.net/

I believe OCAD import/export is planned.

I'm quite excited about this - finally a dedicated (&free) application for producing orienteering maps that will run natively on my Mac.

[ianandmonika]

Is this the same Open Orienteering Maps that Oli O'Brien of Slow has been working on for some time?
If it is, very useful for getting pseudo O maps ready quickly for training & low key events.

[madmike]

No Ianandmonika it is not the same but I agree that OOM is tip top. This project seems to be real omap not pseudo omap that angry h.... sorry Mr O'Brien has developed so effectively.

If Haggis is excited then it should be worth waiting for

[Freefall]

Quantum GIS, an open source GIS application, is already approaching ESRI's ArcGIS in functionality very quickly - the native file format is actually shapefiles, the same as ESRI, so interchangeable and you can go back and forward between applications. After much looking around I actually found a programme that can read OCAD files and export them into shp, dxf or whatever. Global Mapper is relatively low cost (especially on an academic or not for profit basis) and the free software lets you look at all sorts of file formats. You just have to pay if you want to export the data. Unfortunately OCAD contours come out jaggedy, they seem to lose the curve smoothing. I don't know how to use OCAD, but am an expert GIS user and can more or less create an orienteering lookalike map in ArcGIS. I see the gap on OCAD closing very quickly...

[Gross]

but am an expert GIS user and can more or less create an orienteering lookalike map in ArcGIS. I

but will this lokalike map work in the forest? So many people think they can map coz they can use software or have produced a simple urban map... put them in a forest to produce a usable orienteering map & they can't

[mharky]

Gross, I think the point Freefall was making is that there are plenty of software options for people to use out there. The quality of the map will, of course, be determined by the quality of the mapper. But there is more to mapping software than OCAD.

[madmike]

The quality of the map will, of course, be determined by the quality of the mapper.

and the quality of the map will be determined by the time available to do the survey and cartography not just the quality of the mapper.

[Freefall]

I am a rubbish mapper so would never create one for a competition. However alternatives to OCAD can be useful - for example creating an orienteering-like map of the campsite at Oban for example. All done from imported OS data (provided as shapefiles) and a little bit of local knowledge.

[Angry Haggis]

The project has just posted this screenshot showing the progress in the last few days with importing OCAD files - this is the import of an OCAD 8 map. The process isn't perfect yet but it's coming on very fast. Remember, this is a completely free editor which will run on all major computer platforms!



More details at http://oorienteering.sourceforge.net/
There is also a mailing list for interested developers, at https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/lis ... ring-devel