World Orienteering Day(WOD) is a project of the International Orienteering Federation to increase the visibility and accessibility of orienteering worldwide.
The next WOD will take place between May 19th and May 25th 2021. As one of World Orienteering Day’s partners, we offer a free OCAD Starter License for those who register for a WOD event. The licenses will run until end of July 2021.
OCAD Starter does not only include the Course Setting Module, but also the New Map Wizard, with which you can create an orienteering map anywhere in the world with just a few clicks.
One of the strengths of OCAD is the generation of smoothed contour lines.
With the latest Service Update, a combined method of TPI and 3D smoothing is used for the calculation, which leads to improved results. The file size also shrinks, because at the same time irrelevant contour vertices are removed and the contours are converted into Bézier curves.
In our example, the not smoothed contours appear brown. The smoothed contours according to the new method (blue) are cleaner and show the terrain more precisely than according to the old smoothing method (green).
How contour lines can be generated is described in detail in our Wiki.
With the latest update we launched the OCAD Sketch Layer as a Beta version.
The new Sketch Layer and it’s tools are designed for orienteering map field work with a tablet computer and a pen.
Mapping with a tablet in the terrain has some compelling advantages like real-time GPS positioning and the possibility to switch between different background maps. However, the drawing and editing tools were not yet designed for use with a tablet and pen.
This was the trigger for this latest development: The OCAD Sketch Layer makes drawing on the tablet very ergonomic. Even more: Numerous colors and different line widths are available and with the eraser tool you can very easily delete parts of the sketch without having to select the features before.
… and give it a try! The Sketch Layer can be used with the latest Update of the OCAD editions Mapping Solution, Orienteering and Starter and in our free Trial versions of these editions.
We look forward to your feedback and suggestions!
Note: The tools and functions around the OCAD Sketch Layer are a Beta version. We recommend to make regular backups.
We hope you started the new year well and healthy and have some interesting mapping projects ahead of you. There is no lack of mapping projects for our employee Andreas Kyburz. In this Video he shows you how he georeferences an old sprint map and renews its symbol set.
The Corona Pandemic created the need to offer orienteering trainings which can be done individually and over a longer period of time.
In this blog we present 2 nice (and free) apps, which make orienteering courses available year round with no need for flags to mark the control points. Instead, the apps track your location via GPS from your smartphone and make a sound when you have found the control points.
The two apps we have tested are:
MapRunF, developed by a keen orienteer in Brisbane Australia.
To set up a new event, both apps require a map file and a course setting file. These can be easily created and exported with OCAD. Due to the use of GPS, it is important that the files are georeferenced correctly.
For a new map we recommend to start it with the New Map Wizard. In addition to the correct georeferencing, geodata can be imported directly. But also old maps can be georeferenced afterwards.
The georeferenced map file can then be loaded as background map in the course setting project. Now the courses can be set.
MapRun
To upload maps and courses to MapRunF, you need to export…
