Control descriptions in advance

[Gnitworp]

The aim must surely be to reduce non-orienteering activities in the race to an absolute minimum, such as marking your own map, punching a card, following a taped route and unfolding the map to look at the descriptions. An analogy might be being made to tie your shoe laces after the start gun in say a 1500m track race. It might be the same for everyone, but it's not 1500m running.

[mharky]

I totally agree, descriptions should be given out in the start lanes.

[lincolnsteve]

I disagree with you totaly, punching and reading your descriptions are part of the sport and if descriptions are on the map or not its still got to be done, you still have to check them (or not and take the risk) even marking the map had its good points, I used to save a good few seconds on friends who were faster runners but slower copiers! 1500M is about one thing: running as fast as you can, orienteering has alot more depth to it.

[Adventure Racer]

1500M is about one thing: running as fast as you can, orienteering has alot more depth to it.

So you'd be happy if they added in tying your shoelaces? After all that's something you have to do as part of an orienteering event. How about timed filling in the control stub?

Marking your map or unfolding it to get at the descriptions might be something you have to do at some events, but the fact you don't at all (and people don't come home from them saying "the whole event was ruined - I didn't have to mark my map") points out that they're not an inherent part of orienteering, which is simply an exercise in getting from one place to another via a number of intermediate points using a map as fast as possible.

[lincolnsteve]

It would make the start line more interesting

[mharky]

So, Steve, your saying that you would like to have lots of avoidable activities (which have nothing to do with orienteering) so you may have a better chance at beating people who are better at orienteering than you???

Orienteering is about navigating your way round the course as fast as you can. If you think it goes further than that, then do tell...

[lincolnsteve]

Not better at orienteering in general, better fitness levels (just one part of orienteering)

Perhaps you dont like control descriptions only on your map because people are better at looking at them than you?

My point is why should we re-produce something thats already (the majority of the time) on the map? Its ludicrous and the only reason I see why people dont like it is cos it takes a few seconds longer. It's much easier if someone else goes to the hastle of producing a seperate ocad file, bmp & or PDF file, uploads it to the website, then print out however many hundered that are required (because you need to make sure you cover everyone), then have to cut them up & pop them into bags, remember to take them to the event (sure someone has forgotten them at some point) and make sure they are in a place easily accessable. The organiser then has the trouble of people moaning because they cant find the descriptions / the registration area is packed with people looking for / comparing descriptions or people in the start lanes complaining cos the descriptions wont fit into the plastic holders and why cant they be somewhere else. All of that just cos its too much like hard work to look at your descriptions while running!
I guess the best example here is cooking and the "Chicken Ding" ready meal culture we find our selves in today.

Yes orienteering is about navigating around a course in the fastest time but also in the fairest way possible. If everyone is getting the descriptions on the map at the same time surley that is the fairest way?

All that aside should there not be some clear guidelines from BOF on where exactly descriptions should be placed as it does seem no one can agree where the bestplace is and for all our opinions on here its not exactly getting things done is it? (I seem to remember this debate being brought up several times before)

[Duxxer]

I find control descriptions in the start lane tedious and my children find it even more difficult. It's made worse when you have no idea how large they will be. You also get no opportunity to check that children understand the symbols. We can cope, just as we used to cope with needle punches, master maps, map corrections, etc, etc. Being able to download descriptions from the web before the event I considered to be an improvement on the way it used to be.

Putting descriptions on the web site is not difficult - copy the descriptions from each course into a separate OCAD file, print them at a sensible scale onto A4 paper, scan into PDF, post onto the web. Finally, and this is the step that many organisers miss, check that what has been put on the web prints out as expected. Job done. Leave the task until the courses are finalised and being printed and there are no issues about late changes. It makes life easier for the organiser and improves the experience for the competitor. You can still have some descriptions in assembly if you want for those who do not have access to the web.

If you are really bothered that a competitor with an old map will be able to plan his/her course in advance, don't use easily identifiable features for the first controls. Good competitors would be able to plan possible courses and legs without the descriptions anyway - in the recent Focus article Dave Peel discusses planning legs and route choices for the following day for the World Champs and I'm sure he didn't have the next day's descriptions.

[Gnitworp]

Yes orienteering is about navigating around a course in the fastest time but also in the fairest way possible. If everyone is getting the descriptions on the map at the same time surley that is the fairest way?

It's all about 'control flow' (Carol McNeill quote).
It's like a pianist playing from a music score. A page turner allows him to maintain his continuity; turning his own pages disrupts his 'flow', just as having to unfold a map to find the descriptions disrupts an orienteer's 'flow'.

[mharky]

The dimensions of the desrciptions should be in the final details... and they should be to IOF specification as well, I have been to many events where the descriptions have been shrunk to save paper, or to make them more manageable...

[King Penguin]

Some events have trialled printing the control code on the map by the control number. In this case (assuming there is space and it will not obscure essential detail), there's no need to unfold the map to see them, and should we do away with the IOF pictorial descriptions ? I'd still keep them on younger / introductory (short ?) courses as an added confidence-builder to newcomers. Some (not I) have suggested we don't need the codes at all and the circle on the map should be sufficient.

[mharky]

and should we do away with the IOF pictorial descriptions?

No, that would be a silly idea; what about when there are several features in the centre of the circle, what about when there are micro-defentions that cannot be portrayed on the map...

Control codes on the map, where possible, is a good idea for the controls where it is obvious, but we still need to IOF pictorials...

[awk]

Is there the same debate elsewhere, or is it just here in the UK that catering for every individual taste is expected by providing descriptions on the web, in the envelope, at registration in the start lane and Uncle Tom Cobleigh and all? There seems to be a lot of logic at providing simply on the map (as in relays), or perhaps in the start lane. Anything else starts shifting the playing field.

[jondub]

I can't see the problem with just getting them in the start lane. They should probably be on the map as well. The only gripe I had about the Swiss O week was that they gave out the descriptions in the registration package, but didn't (I think) point out that they would not be on the map. Some of my colleagues had to navigate on day 1 without knowing which controls they were looking for. Only one of them managed without mispunching.

A serious problem with putting them on the website is what you do about late course changes. One event that I went to a couple of months ago lost access to a part of the map only a few days before the event. They had to redo the courses and issue new descriptions. Anyone who had downloaded the original ones and had not checked the website again would have had the wrong descriptions.

In Canada we give them out at the start area, but not in the actual lane. I've never heard any discussion about this here.

[Gross]

- in the recent Focus article Dave Peel discusses planning legs and route choices for the following day for the World Champs and I'm sure he didn't have the next day's descriptions.

Descriptions at major international races are distributed at team leaders meetings during the night before the competition