2014 BOF AGM Papers

[RichT]

The AGM Papers have recently been circulated by email and Proposal 4 is the Proposal on Map Scales at Level A and B Events, which Lakeland OC has submitted to the British Orienteering AGM, to be held at Swansea University on 18th April.

Just in case you haven’t been reading the other Nopesport thread this Proposal has been put forward in order to delegate to planners and controllers of Level A and B events the responsibility for deciding whether specified map enlargements are provided to competitors at events on particularly complex, intricately contoured terrain.

The full Proposal, together with the Supporting Statement and responses from the Board and the Events and Competitions Committee, is set out in the AGM Booklet. The Proposal and Supporting Statement can also be found at http://www.lakelandorienteering.org.uk/ ... m-proposal

If you cannot be present at the AGM, may we encourage you to cast your vote by proxy.
If you wish to support the Proposal, we would suggest that you compete Parts A and C of the Form, Part A to appoint the Chairman of the Meeting as your Proxy and Part C to instruct him how to cast your vote. You may alternatively appoint any other member of British Orienteering to be your Proxy, but, if that person fails to be present at the AGM, your Proxy Vote will not be cast.

Proxy Voting Forms must be returned to the British Orienteering office by post or by email, to arrive no later than 5pm on Wednesday 16th April. If you wish to return the form by email, you have to complete it, then scan it and attach it to an email to info@britishorienteering.org.uk. The postal address is Company Secretary, British Orienteering, 8a Stancliffe House, Whitworth Road, Darley Dale, Matlock, DE4 2HJ.

Remember that all individual members of British Orienteering, who will be at least 18 years old on 31stDecember 2014, have one vote.

Best wishes

Richard Tiley & Dick Towler
Chairman & Vice Chairman
Lakeland OC

[gg]

Map scales at major events - the other side of the story!

By Bruce Bryant, Map Advisory Group member

You may have seen the article about choice of map scales for major events in CompassSport. As a member of MAG (Map Advisory Group) I thought that I should give you a brief overview of the other side to this story...
 
There was much discussion about the request to use 1:7500 maps for M/W45+ at JK 2015 within MAG and a number of questions and potential issues were identified to the “Events and Competitions Committee” that needed answering before any decisions could be made.
 
Apologies if the rest of this article gets a bit technical but it helps explain why there was much discussion within MAG and a request for more information before we could come to an informed conclusion.
 
There are many logistical issues – both for the mapper and planner/controller - with the use of 3 different scales at an event as requested for Bigland and Dunnerdale:
 
1/ What size of symbols is used on each map – are the enlarged maps just a straight enlargement of the 1:15000 map or does the 1:7500 map have the same size symbols as the 1:10000 map to allow more space between symbols and make the map easier to read?
 
2/ If the map is drawn at 1:15000 for the elite competitors and then enlarged to 1:10000 and 1:7500 for others, the 1:7500 map could end up with very large course overprints (12 mm diameter control circles and huge control numbers).
 
3/ If the M/W45+ ages classes all get 1:7500 - as the JK 2015 proposal -  the long distance courses for such as M45 may need a very large map. Note that for BOC at Culbin we ended up with an A2 map which is not easy to use for the long legs that you should get on a “Long Distance” course.
 
4/ The cost of offset-litho printing at 3 scales could be very prohibitive if the layout of the printing plates are not very carefully considered. This could dramatically increase the map printing costs compared to maps at only 1:15000 and 1:10000 – and therefore increase entry fees.
 
5/ MAG believe that much of the pressure for 1:7500 maps in the Lake District is a result of complex areas that are “over-mapped” with too much fine detail for the scale of map (lack of “generalisation”) combined with average or poor quality laser prints. The quality of print is particularly important where you have intricate contours sitting over rough open ground as found in many Lake District open areas. For a major event and to make the map as legible as possible, this type of terrain must have offset-litho printing rather than laser prints.
 
6/ The crux of this JK 2015 discussion is all based around improving the legibility of the map, however the JK team are now asking for 1:7500 laser printed maps which will compromise the print quality and legibility of the final maps.
 
7/ MAG know of a number of competitors who chose laser printed 1:7500 maps for a Lake District event at Graythwaite - where they had a choice of map scales - and later regretted the decision due to the poor quality of the laser printing and trying to read the map in dark forest! Many later commented that they would have preferred an offset-litho map at 1:10000 - but that wasn’t one of the choices offered...
  
In summary, apart from the tricky question of map scales for JK 2015, I do have concerns for the quality of map that will result if major events are free to make their own decisions about map scales and printing methods.
 
A Better Way Forward

By David Olivant Chair Map Advisory Group

Bruce’s article highlights the main issues around map scales, MAG considers that more research is required about map symbol dimensions and vision issues with older competitors, in particular those over 65.

1:10000 scale
ISOM 1:15000 symbols are enlarged proportionally by 150% for 1:10000 maps. However cartographic science states that enlargements should not be linear and Swiss O cartographers believe that 135% enlargement gives a clearer result by creating more white space between symbols. On MAG advice the BMDOC 2013 map at Stanton Moor used a similar enlargement and it would appear that the map of this complex area was well received. This alone may resolve clarity issues in detailed areas but more research is needed.

1:7500 scale
There are several problems with enlarging maps to 1:7500. There has been no research into symbol size at this scale. A straight 200% enlargement from 1:15000 gives symbols that are very heavy and doesn’t create the white space needed for clarity. 150% enlargement may do this but there is the problem of loss of perception of slope, the Swiss say that 2.5 metre contours would be required to restore this (back to square one), and when shown both scales most competitors say that there is a loss of ground shape turning map reading into a two dimensional rather than three dimensional exercise. Again, more research is needed.

Helping Older Eyes
As we age the eye loses its flexibility and its ability to focus on close objects, this is presbyopia. This happens to almost all people between the ages of 45 to 60 and some sort of correction is needed. What is new is that we suspect there is a difference between how the detail on a map is perceived by those people who are myopic (short sighted) and those who are long sighted. The theory is that presbyopia happens to short sighted people earlier and their brains adapt to focussing more easily than those who are long sighted who typically don’t have the problem until over 60 and then the brain struggles to cope even with corrective lenses. If this is the case then this could explain the polarisation of views on the subject of scales and a better solution should be possible. But we have no idea of the numbers affected or even if this is true. There are other eye issues of course, some age related such as difficulty with low light and at any age a small proportion of people who suffer colour blindness.

More research is needed to find the best solution to these crucial issues.