It is useful for a number of reasons to keep a computerised record of orienteering maps and events. A maps file enables analyses to be made of the number, category, land area and location of orienteering maps.

Combining this information with the events file shows the frequency of use by category of map (complex terrain, introductory, close to urban areas).

These statistics could be combined with map production costs and event income receipts. If the files are kept up-to-date, they can be used to produce current fixture listings. Another essential benefit is that they archive an important aspect of the history of orienteering and of the main persons involved in making maps.

The map file contains the following items of information:

Map name, Local district, County, Sign-posting locations, Map scale, Contour interval, Survey year, Surveyors, Map club, Grid reference, Photogrammetrist, OCAD, Cartographer and Map area in square metres.

Individual records are created for each survey and resurvey. Maps at different scales from the same survey are both recorded in the same record in the 'Map scale' variable. The map name is the actual name on the map. Fixture lists often contain a variant of the proper map name sometimes using the local district name. Old maps were sometimes produced using imperial scales e.g. 6" mile. The latter is input as 1:10560. The individual surveyors names are recorded if possible - up to three names, otherwise 'Various' is recorded. A variant of this is to record initials of the persons involved ? this has sometimes been done. The version of OCAD is recorded if known. The map area is useful because the IOF ask for it in their annual survey of new maps and it is the only measurement unit across maps that can be added to produce comparable statistical information. It can be difficult to measure and I haven't tried to yet. Any volunteers to help out would be most welcome. One hectare is 100m x 100m = 10,000 square metres. Accuracy to one-tenth of a hectare would be more than sufficient.

The events file contains the following information:

Map name, Event date, Event type, Event format, First start time, Last start time, Public contact point, Category of event and Organising club.

An example value for the event type is 'Leinster league'. An example for event format is 'Score'. The category of event is used to code whether the event is a top championship or an introductory event etc. Events that were not held as planned (cancelled, postponed etc.) are included in the file with the format variable used to record this ? this can then be used to exclude these events from the statistics. Example analyses include number of events by club, by year and month and by category. Listings of major events, such as Irish Championships, can be easily produced.

Problems

The information required for the map file is often not on the orienteering

map;

Map names can change over time;

Some maps have very long names;

Events are sometimes not found in fixture lists so they can easily be overlooked;

Fixture lists do not indicate which version of a map is used so around resurvey years this information is approximate rather than exact (see computer formats).

Computer formats

The two files can be managed as Excel or comma delimited files. Merging them is done through the Map name so the spelling must be exactly the same in both files. As the survey map year is not recorded in the events file, the matching is approximate even if the program does some control merging based on the survey map and event dates.

Interested?

Contact me at bradyg@cso.ie if you can help or have queries.

Gerry Brady