Splash Maps

[Joshj]

Has anyone seen this? Could be good for POCs as the maps become collectable!

http://www.splashmaps.net/

[SJ]

Funnily enough, just back from a wedding in Ireland where the MC chatted to me about his good friend's new company, Splash Maps. He was interested in whether the idea could be applied to orienteering, so Nick and I filled him in on a few O details, eg that we use special map keys/scales.
Looks like a great idea for anyone training on the same map multiple times (running/biking/skiing round your local forest?). At a guess, not yet for standard events as paper and printingwould be quicker and cheaper. Maybe POCs, especially if you want to design different courses using the same controls, although you wouldn't need the wipeable facility for the controls themselves of course.

[Freefall]

I have a set of escape maps from WW2 printed on silk covering various routes across Scandinavia, Russia, Germanyand France. The idea has been around a while...

[Big Jon]

The waterproof paper used for O maps (Pretex) is pretty good in the wet - could last several runs and cost the same a normal paper.

[Kitch]

Finally !
after 34 years of orienteering, a map I can wear.

[mharky]

Mr Overton said: 'They don’t weigh anything...'

Impressive. NASA might be interested in his weightless material.

I think they may be actually be a good idea though. You can just screw them up into a pocket or tuck them in somewhere and not worry about it.

[JK]

Contrary to the above, according to the Daily Mail Splash Maps are really useful for orienteers because we can write on them with non-permanent pens.

I think they'd make nice buff prizes but apart from that I'm not convinced.

[Angry Haggis]

A bit of trivia

Splashmaps are based on OpenStreetMap data with Ordnance Survey Panorama contours - exactly the same data that OpenOrienteeringMap is based on.

N.B. they aren't quite as crisp as we are used to on regular orienteering maps, due to limitations with the fabric material they are printed on - but it's almost certainly good enough for mountain marathons etc.

[Freefall]

A bit more Trivia - there is now a better free contour data set from the OS called Terrain 50 that replaces OS Panorama. Same contour interval but better curves.

[Angry Haggis]

A bit more Trivia - there is now a better free contour data set from the OS called Terrain 50 that replaces OS Panorama. Same contour interval but better curves.

Yes, I've been meaning to switch from Panorama to Terrain 50 for a while now - but I've not yet been convinced that it's sufficiently better to make it worthwhile for the Street-O maps that OOMap is mainly intended for.

[plain lazy]

N.B. they aren't quite as crisp as we are used to on regular orienteering maps, due to limitations with the fabric material they are printed on - but it's almost certainly good enough for mountain marathons etc.

That was my immediate thought, how would they fare in a Mountain Marathon? Navigating short legs would be easy with the map folded small, and great to stuff in your pocket, but would you get into difficulty trying to navigate a 3km leg from the side of a Munro in 40mph winds??

And what would the unit cost be per map if it's £19 for a stock map of the Dales? Probably prohibitively expensive for a few hundred competitors.

Nice thought though