Tip for planners to help colour blind people

[GML]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've also found a piece of software called Color Oracle (colororacle.org) that temporarily makes your computer screen colour blind so that you can see what any image will look like to a colour blind person, irrespective of the software you are using (so it will work directly with OCAD). That said, I still think an alternative OCAD colour table might be a better way to go.

[GML]

And this paper describes how to do it ... apparently! http://vision.psychol.cam.ac.uk/jdmollo ... urmaps.pdf

[Snail]

As a non-colour blind person - but occasional planner / controller - I'm slightly confused ...

Circles / numbers are usually the same colour as connecting lines - so on the same background they should be no more / less difficult to see (unless more of an acuity issue than colourblindness). Is it purely an issue when circles / numbers are against a walk / fight / urban OOB / etc background, but the lines go through lighter patches so can be picked up?

[andy]

Don't have 2 consecutive legs in a dead straight line (at least on a dark background)

Thanks to this post I'm currently debating a couple of controls for our Urban Race next weekend...

[Reiver]

In response to the comment on why we find lines easier to see than circles and numbers, this is because we can see the lines where they pass across colours other than the olive green or grey. I certainly use this in difficult areas and follow the 2 lines back and know the control will be at the intersection point. (This sounds complex but is something I now do almost intuitively).
It is the olive green that generally causes the biggest problems and looking back at recent maps.
Lanark - very difficult
Banchory - impossible (I'm glad I missed it)
Erskine - no problem (lighter olive green)
Edinburgh - no problem (shadow around numbers)
Lossiemouth - easiest this year (lighter olive green and darker lines)

[greywolf]

Lossiemouth - easiest this year (lighter olive green and darker lines)

The Lossiemouth sprint map was litho-printed, which definitely helped get the colours clsoer to those in the spec (although bizarrely the race map shades weren't identical to those in the litho test prints ). We also spent a long time trying to find the clearest colour combinations wthin the colour ranges allowed in ISSOM - no-one in officialdom was able or willing to comment beforehand, but afterwards we were told that such a map would be rejected by the IOF on H&S grounds

[EddieH]

What on earth has H&S got to do with it

[greywolf]

The map used two different shades of brown for paved areas: 20% for roads, 10% for pavements and the narrow cut-throughs, with the idea of trying to really emphasise the latter & thus increase readability.
The IOF view, apparently, is that ISSOM prohibits traffic in sprint areas, and that therefore this distinction is redundant. Moreover, if an accident did happen, it could be taken as recognising that, contrary to spec, traffic was present, and thus be construed as an admission of liability...

[DJM]

The IOF view, apparently, is that ISSOM prohibits traffic in sprint areas

I thought I knew my ISSOM reasonably well and was surprised by greywolf's quote, and then I looked again and found section 2.4 which is headed

Traffic must be kept out of sprint orienteering areas

However, IOF Competition Rules (15.1) refer only to maps being drawn and printed according to ISSOM so I'm not sure of the status of the ISSOM sections which are not relevant to maps, such as that regarding traffic.

In any case, there have been plenty of major IOF Sprint races (including all 10 WMOC Sprints) which have been held where light traffic has been present and where H&S has only been an issue in determining acceptable risk levels.

[graeme]

The IOF view, apparently, is that ISSOM prohibits traffic in sprint areas

Perhaps optimistically, I had always read "traffic" to mean "vehicles moving through an area". i.e. cars moving to and from parking spaces is not "traffic". I also believe "traffic" involves more than one car at a time.

If they meant "no vehicles allowed" surely they'd have said "no vehicles allowed"?

[Rosine]

Back to the original poster: I take it you're not keen on Score events....?

[Big Jon]

In response to the comment on why we find lines easier to see than circles and numbers, this is because we can see the lines where they pass across colours other than the olive green or grey. I certainly use this in difficult areas and follow the 2 lines back and know the control will be at the intersection point. (This sounds complex but is something I now do almost intuitively).
It is the olive green that generally causes the biggest problems and looking back at recent maps.
Lanark - very difficult
Banchory - impossible (I'm glad I missed it)
Erskine - no problem (lighter olive green)
Edinburgh - no problem (shadow around numbers)
Lossiemouth - easiest this year (lighter olive green and darker lines)

I was surprised at the darkness of the Banchory olive green - it was not what I expected, nor got from my own laser printer.

[andy]

Back to the original poster: I take it you're not keen on Score events....?

I once questioned why a friend of mine didn't go to a control on a score event he was within 50m or so of. He simply hadn't seen it... Red circle on Green map

[buzz]

Apparently inspired by this thread the organisers at the recent SYO middle race used a very subtle but effective white 'shadow' on the control numbers which made a big difference for me.

Not sure if its possible to do the same for circles and lines - perhaps something for the CAD applications to consider.

Thanks to NopeSporters for raising the issue and for SYO for listening.

[Wayward-O]

Not sure if its possible to do the same for circles and lines - perhaps something for the CAD applications to consider.

It's not difficult in full Ocad as long as you're competent with editing the symbols. Not sure it can be done with the CS version.

I recently planned a local evening urban event on an area I've mapped and added white borders to all course symbols because of the amount of olive OOB and grey buildings on the map.