Creating an Event Map

The accuracy of the map is the key element to the success of a mountain bike orienteering event and in recent years competitors have come to expect high quality maps, printed professionally on waterproof paper. Most organisers should be able to find a printers that are able to do this, if organisers are unable to find a company locally, BML Print (WEBSITE) specialise is producing orienteering maps for numerous clubs & will send them via courier to you at a very reasonable rate.

When creating your map, you should ideally use a 1-50,000 (2cm/km) or 1-25,000 (4cm/km) Ordinance Survey (OS) base map, bespoke mapping software should then be used to add the controls and other details specific to the event. In certain circumstances organisers may wish to rescale the base map to better suit the area. However, caution should be taken when rescaling 1-25,000 to ensure the contours and other map detail are still legible. 1-50,000 rescaled to 1-40,000 works well, as does 1-25,000 to 1-30,000. Above all the maps must be legible, it is useful to get another set of eyes to critique the map prior to sending it to the printers.

Purple Pen is a great orienteering mapping resource that can be used to produce a quality map product. It is free to download & use, (PURPLE PEN) if organisers would like help getting started with the software, there are a number of experienced orienteering mappers in BMBO that will be willing to provide guidance via the phone or online chat if required.

Contents of the Event Map Legend

As a minimum the following must be on the event map:

1-    Event Title & Date

2-    OS copyright notice & Licence Number:

This map includes mapping data licensed from Ordnance Survey. Crown Copyright and/or database right 2024 - License number 100033596

3-    Emergency Number

4-    Map Scale

5-    Warning of potential hazards (Busy Roads, Rough Tracks etc)

6-    Permissive routes & any additional detail that you think will help.

7-    A key to any map corrections you have made.

BMBO Map Marking Standard

Start/Finish point                                                           -           Red or Purple Circle with Triangle inside

Starting point of event if located separate to the Finish     -           Red or Purple Triangle                          

Finish point of event if located separate to the Start         -           Two concentric Circles

Control is in centre of circle or at the Focal Point            -           Red or Purple Circle (with Focal Point)

Controls Number                                                           -           Red or Purple placed so as not to obscure the approach

Control Value                                                                -           Value in brackets or another colour:                   

Redirected Bridleway or Public Rights of Way (PRoW)    -           Red or Green Dashed Line                                

Permissive Route                                                          -           Blue or Orange Dashed line

Permitted Forest Trails                                                   -           Black Dashed or Solid Line

PRoW placed out of bounds or blocked for the event       -           Red or Purple Crosses

Area out of bounds for the event                                    -           Red or Purple Hatch

 

You might want consider highlighting the existing BW network to help them stand out, this is quite a specialist skill, time consuming and very much a nice to have.

 

Map Corrections

All controls must be placed on legal routes that are clearly defined on the map. Often the base map might be slightly out, for example a landowner may wish the public to avoid going across an open field or there may be a genuine error on the map that has not yet been updated. If any local amendments have been made on the ground, they must be corrected on the map.

In some cases, permissive access may be in place or negotiated by the organiser, again these must be annotated on the map using the correct marking scheme.

Many Public Forests in the UK have higher rights of access, this allows riding on the existing trails within the boundary of the forest. It is useful to mark these in a similar way to foot orienteering mapping with a solid black line for a forest track & dashed black line for a forest path. Public & Private forests are coloured differently on OS mapping & can normally be checked by researching local access guidelines.

Urban Commons also have higher access rights (CROW Act 2000 Section 15 Land), any registered commons that are situated within Urban or Metropolitan Districts have these higher rights. You can find the location of Section 15 land on DEFRA’s MAGIC WEBSITE. You must stick to existing trails when doing so, therefore the ones you wish riders to use should be marked as permissive.

Riders often find the diamonds on the National Footpath routes such as the Pennine Way or Wye Valley walk confusing, if there is any point where an organiser thinks the legality of a route may be in question it is best to mark it Out of Bounds.