ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUV
1
For a printable word document version click here.
How to Plan an Orienteering Event
- Created by Stuart Engleback for Orienteering Wellington
2
3
General Course RulesSubjective AdviceStep by step Condes guide - If needed view the image below detailing how to use Condes.How to add a border
4
- If you are unsure of anything ask your controller. The controller needs a final signoff of the courses.
- Have a common flow between courses. e.g. all courses travel around the map in the same direction.Setup- In Condes mask out as much of the map as possible while leaving plenty of space around controls and routes people might take.
5
- Choose an event centre and start which have vehicle access and parking close by.- Think about what you would enjoy. e.g. nice flow along a spur rather than unnecessary climb. - Create a new event in Condes. (Chose multiple scales/maps option if required)- The masked area should be consistent between all courses of the same scale.
6
- All controls should be on a feature.- Avoid mandatory unpleasant things. e.g. going through thick vegetation or up a big hill for no reason.
- Choose a location for the start, finish and event centre. It is good if these are all in the same place. There should be easy vehicle access and parking close by.
- In Condes go to the print area menu and untick the box to draw a border. Also change the control description size to 5 mm.
7
- The finish is usually by the event centre where spectators can see.
- Have a common last control for all courses to visit about 100 m before the finish control and have a taped finish chute.
- When choosing a start and finish area it important to consider where a white course might go. Are there adequate handrails?
- In Condes add a scale using the image place tool, then use the tape measure to make the distance of the scale increments match with the map.
8
- The exit direction for controls should not be similar to the approach direction or else it creates a dogleg.
- Add a common control or two across courses for a radio midway through each course. (Mostly for major events)
- Mark any out of bounds areas, legs shouldn't encourage going through these areas.- The Scale can be found here.
9
- To avoid doglegs, a turning control can be added ≈ 90º to keep a similar leg while not being a dogleg.
- A spectator leg or run through past the event centre is good to add spectator interest.- Align the print area to A4 or A3 and keep the courses well within this area. (Do this under the print area menu > resize to fit page size)- You should now have something similar to the map shown ------>
10
- Try to avoid different courses entering a control from opposite sides if possible. - Avoid lucky dip controls e.g. a pit in a vague area with low visibility. - Remove the inbuild border frame. (Do this under print area menu > configure print area)- Figma is a free to use, browser based, design tool, which we will be using to create and edit the map borders.
11
- Long legs are typically for routechoice, short legs are usually for detailed navigation or turning.
- Think about the visibility of the flag or feature from a distance, you want people to navigate to it, not see it from 200 m away.
- Look for good routechoice legs. These will usually either have slow or impassable terrain stopping runners from taking a straight line between controls, or they
- Open the Figma templates at the bottom of this section and in Figma in the middle at the top, duplicate the template. You can then edit the duplicate.
12
- Between 12 and 30 controls is a good range to aim for. Obviously the course length affects this.
- Plan so courses can start at the same time. Have a different first control for all courses and vary the first few legs.
will have something to encourage runners to take a wider route such as a fast track. The more viable routes the better.
- Use snipping tool to follow the red page outline in condes, paste this into Figma, and move it behind all other layers by dragging it down in the left column.
13
- Controls should be on the nearside of features for white and yellow and the far side for red and orange.
- Unless it is an intended run through or spectator leg, legs should not go past the start or event centre.- Place a bunch of controls on features in interesting areas of the map as well as at the start and end of any routechoices legs.
- Edit the map name, event title, and date by double clicking on them. Change the font size to fit. Change the planner and controller text too.
14
- Any control should not be within 100 m of another control on a similar feature.- Hitting a very detailed area from a vague area can be good as it requires accuracy at knowing the entry point.
- Join up the controls to make courses. Make sure to follow the rules by referring to the General Course Rules and Subjective Advice sections on the left.
- Change the scale and contour intervals to the correct values. You may need multiple borders if you have different scales.
15
- The start triangle should be separate and out of sight from the start punch. - Vary the length of legs and the exit angles from controls.
- Make sure to follow the correct guidelines for the desired course colour on the left, bad experiences such as too difficult courses make people not come back.
- Turn off or on the relevant logos using the eye icon in the left column. e.g. CSW logo for CSW events only. Use the correct landowner logo.
16
- Long legs give lots of time to plan ahead while a chain of short legs can make planning ahead difficult. This is good to
- Avoid running out of a control on a similar route as the entry, otherwise you end up with a dogleg. - Drag around the logos and north arrow etc, so that they do not cover any of the map or control descriptions and have some padding.
17
Course Colour Rules use immediately before an important route choice. - Try and think what the runners will be thinking on each leg of the course.- Add some numbers to the scale bar to match the scale of the map.
18
- The ONZ Planners Guide has more information on requirements for each course level in section 16.9.
- Have each course cross over itself. Seeing other people on a different leg of the course adds a more social feel and can
- Once you have courses you are happy with, get your controller to check them and give you feedback before fine tuning.- Everything on the artboard needs to be within the bounds of the border.
19
White:
drag runners off their line while allowing runners to revisit areas from another angle and adding a chance to plan ahead.
Refinement- You can mask out parts of the map in Figma by placing a white shape behind all the border layers.
20
- Should follow linear features such as paths, fences, streams, and distinct vegetation boundaries.- On routechoice legs, use the tape measure tool to help balance the options.- Renumber the controls to the required range under the control menu. (Usually from 101 for Wellington events)- Download the Paster App here.
21
- There should be a control at every decision point, such as at junctions or when changing handrail type.
- Routechoice legs should be balanced enough that choosing the worse route doesn't make it impossible to catch up.
- Add a dotted line from where the start procedure will be to the triangle. (Double click the triangle and tick the marked route box)
- Export your figma border, rename it to 'OWBorder' and move it to the folder: PasterApp/Sample-Maps-And-Config-1.1.0/Maps/EVENTNAME/
22
- As young children typically run white, avoid traffic and rough terrain such as a fenceline up a steep hill.
- All controls should have a purpose. Either for detailed navigation, routechoice, as a turning control, or for distance.
- Add drinks stations and crossing points at commonly accessible places where needed. (Mainly for major events)- Export your courses in condes as PDF, making sure it's either A4 or A3. Rename the resulting file to 'OWCourses' and move it to the
23
- You can have courses follow a tape between two linear features if needed.
- The art of course planning is to plan the navigation challenge between the controls, rather than just control locations.
- In Condes the control description can be split into multiple columns to make it easier to fit on the page. folder: PasterApp/Sample-Maps-And-Config-1.1.0/Maps/EVENTNAME/Maps/
24
Yellow:- You can add extra distance by making courses run in an hourglass shape rather than a rectangle.
- Place controls on the far side of features relative to the approach direction so they aren't visible from far away. Place them nearside for white and yellow.
- It is important to maintain the same file names when you replace them as the code references each by name.
25
- Like white there should be a linear feature handrail all the way to the control circle. Tapes can be used.
- Bend the finish chute if desired as linear chutes are boring.- Cut control circles for all scales to reveal any important details hidden by the circle.
- Open the OWBorder.json file and replace the folder name part (currently OWCourseFolder) with EVENTNAME (the folder you created for the event).
26
- Unlike white there can be multiple decision points in a row before the next control.- Turning off overprint and adding a white edge to controls may be needed to improve clarity.- Go through all courses cutting lines to show important detail underneath and pivoting lines around other control circles to improve clarity. - Run ONZ.MapFramer.GUI.exe found in the folder: PasterApp/ONZ.MapFramer-1.1.0/ select and then find
27
- Legs should have opportunities to cut corners such as across a field instead of following a fence around.
- Have 30 or less controls on a course. You can have more however older SI's only have a capacity of 30.
- Set the control descriptions for white and yellow to be textual rather than symbols. (Double click the course name on the left and tick the box)
 the OWBorder.json file in: PasterApp/Sample-Maps-And-Config-1.1.0/Maps/ then click run.
28
- Controls can be up to 50 m off linear features but must be easily visible from the linear feature.
- Go through all the courses and the all controls map moving the control numbers to clearly show which circle they belong to and to not cover detail.
- Go to: PasterApp/Sample-Maps-And-Config-1.1.0/Maps/ProcessedMaps/OWEvent and open the PDF called Courses.
29
Orange:Field Checking- Before finalising re-check control descriptions being sure to not be complacent in case circles have been moved to other features.
- This should be your finished maps. The border is an A4 aspect ratio so if there is white space outside of it the initial PDF of the courses is likely not A4/A3.
30
- Controls should be off handrail features and can use contour detail and small point features like knolls.
- OW has a PLB for organisers to take when checking courses in remote locations.
- Calculate the expected climb by counting contours on the most likely route for each course and fill in the box when double clicking the course name.
- There are example files you can use to help figure out any issues.
31
- Controls should have obvious attack points or a catching feature within 100 m of the control. - Field checking should be done with your controller.- Delete any unused controls. (They have orange text instead of black in the left column)- The next step is to split the resulting PDF so that each course is an individual PDF file.
32
- Navigation with contours is good but avoid using minor contour detail. e.g a small reentrant on a hillside.
- Site check your map, particularly the control locations, and expected routes and attack points.
- Using a mask refine the map area to remove unneeded parts of the map, linear catching features like roads are a good edge, keep the mask consistent
Landscape Border
33
Red:- You are looking for inaccuracies between the map and ground especially vegetation, and unsafe terrain. between all grades. (To do this go to the canvas menu > mask map, then cut a hole for your course area)Portrait Border
34
- Red courses should challenge navigation, fitness, and create routechoice decisions. - You may also need to test run the courses to check running time is as required. - When you are happy with the courses, send them to your controller for checking.
35
- Any feature can be used as a control site but using fine contour detail is a good idea. - For major events place ribbons at controls and water stations so nothing is in the wrong place on the day. - You will need to organise field checking and being sorted for on the day.Admin Tasks
36
- Red Short should be considerate to less physically capable people and avoid tough or steep terrain.
- Move courses to avoid issues or problem areas. If you can't agree if an area looks right or not, don't use it.- To make an untaped finish leg, double click the finish circle.
- In Condes under the Print menu select 'Control Descriptions' and then export to PDF, using the fill page option, to create loose control descriptions.
37
- When putting out ribbons do half each individually, then check the other's half.- Export a blank map as a JPG under the export bitmap option in the Export menu.
38
Distances & Winning Times- It can be a good idea to run the whole white course to make sure there is nothing unexpected.How to add to Routegadget- Using a PDF editor split the PDF file created by the border paster into separate PDF files for each course.
39
- Your controller will advise on a recommended distance to fit the desired time as it depends on the terrain.
- This has to be done after the event so that competitors do not get information about the courses.- Export the event data as an xml under the export menu. Select all the courses and export a copy in IOF version 3.0 and version 2.0.
40
- The ONZ Planners Guide has instructions for the time a course should take in section 16.11.Final Checklist- Routegadget needs a JPG of the blank map, as well as the xml file in IOF version 2.0, and the results xml in IOF version 2.0.- Fill out the event information form found here
41
- For club events a good winning time for Orange and Red is 45 minutes, with 20 minutes for Yellow and White.
- Completed all the required courses.- Head to the RouteGadget website.- Complete the HARM form found here. Fill out the first page and sign the bottom of the last page. (Get the controller to do it)
42
- Very roughly: White = 1.5 km, Yellow = 2.5 km, Orange = 3.5 km, Red Short = 4.0 km, Red Long = 7.0 km.
- Every control has the correct description.- Login and fill out the required steps. The login details can be requested from a committee member.- If you are planning a major event, create an event centre layout diagram.
43
- Cut control circles.- Organise collecting gear from Alan and putting out controls with your controller before the event.
44
On the day- Cut and pivot course lines.- It is easier if you just send the ocad file instead of a jpeg. - Send the following to the relevant people, usually Alan Horn for Wellington events at minimum a week before the event.
45
- Controls will need to be put out the morning of the event so none go missing. - Move control numbers. Course PDFs.
46
- Controls should be at the centre of the circle.- Renumbered controls. Event xml files.
47
- Controls should be easy to see when standing at the feature.- Xml file created. The HARM form.
48
- White controls should be placed slightly towards the next control.- Border added with nothing overlapping. The event information form.
49
- On the day the finish chute should be taped all the way to the last control unless otherwise stated.
- White and yellow descriptions are textual. A blank JPG of the map and IOF version 2.0 xml for Route Gadget.
50
- Loose control descriptions exported.
51
After the event- All admin stuff has been done and sent.
52
- Check that the results are added to winsplits. (Or get the relevant person to)- HARM form completed.
53
- Check that the event is added to routegadget. (Or get the relevant person to)
54
- Fill out any incident reports if something happened during the event. (Or get the relevant person to)
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100