A description of the sport of orienteering aimed at the newcomer to the sport and particularly those high school JROTC students in Florida thinking about trying orienteering for the first time.

1. That sounds like fun!
Orienteering

2. Orienteering is fun.
Whether it is recreational, competitive or
an outing for the whole family, orienteering is fun.
Here’s why . . . .

3. Orienteering is done on the run,
while walking, even in a wheelchair.
There is something for everybody.

6. Orienteers can be
anyone from youngsters
to youth groups to
families to JROTC to
top athletes
and even old timers.
Orienteering is truly a
sport for all.

7. Orienteering can take place in many forms
On foot In canoes In a corn maize On skis On horseback
On bikes At night On wheelchairs

8. Where can we go
orienteering?
Everywhere
From Cities To Forests
From the
Top of the World
To the Ocean’s Edge

9. All orienteering events have this in common:
1) You are using a map and usually a compass
2) You are responsible for deciding your own route.

10. Pretty well anywhere you go in the world you can find people orienteering and using maps that have a standard look
Portugal Japan
Denmark
USA Israel Jordan
Kenya

11. Orienteering maps are pictorial representations of the land.
The maps use a standard set of symbols to show details in five standard colors.
Pond

12. The Colors of an Orienteering Map
Brown Landforms like contours
pits and knolls

13. The Colors of an Orienteering Map
Brown
Blue
Landforms like contours
pits and knolls
Water like lakes, streams
and ponds

14. The Colors of an Orienteering Map
Brown
Blue
Black
Landforms like contours
pits and knolls
Water like lakes, streams
and ponds
Manufactured features and
Rock features

15. The Colors of an Orienteering Map
Brown
Blue
Black
Yellow
Landforms like contours
pits and knolls
Water like lakes, streams
and ponds
Manufactured features and
rock features
Open fields / not forested

16. The Colors of an Orienteering Map
Brown
Blue
Black
Yellow
Green
Landforms like contours
pits and knolls
Water like lakes, streams
and ponds
Manufactured features and
Rock features
Open fields / not forested
Thick woods, the darker the
green the thicker the woods.
Also significant trees

17. The Colors of an Orienteering Map
Brown
Blue
Black
Yellow
Green
White
Purple
Landforms like contours
pits and knolls
Water like lakes, streams
and ponds
Manufactured features and
Rock features
Open fields / not forested
Thick woods, the darker the
green the thicker the woods.
Also significant trees
The rest. Open runnable woods
A special color to show dangerous
areas and out-of-bounds.
Plus

18. Add a title, scale and contour
information, meridian lines and
a legend and you have an
orienteering map.

19. What makes an orienteering competition so special?
It is a race. Your time to complete the course is compared to others.
But it is not a race on a track where
you go round and round
It is not like cross country running where
everyone follows the same path
Those are great sports but they are not orienteering. . . ..

20. What makes orienteering special can be different things for different people
Friendship
Love the Outdoors
Adventure
Lifetime Passion
Travel

21. As new orienteers master more skills
they move from Novice to Advanced
courses step-by-step. As they ‘move up’
the courses tend to get
longer and the navigation
more challenging
Novice
Intermediate
Advanced
“Sending a beginner out on this Advanced course
would be like tossing a non-swimmer in to the
deep end of the pool”

22. But for everyone it comes down to the same problem:
How do I get from here to there and in as little time as possible?
It is called Route Choice
Which route would be best for you?
Choice 1: The shortest route but it means
going up and down several hills
Choice 2: A longer route around to an
easy-to-find trail, some short cuts then
up a small valley to the control
Choice 3: Moderate length, takes out
some climb but has an uncertain ‘attack’
to the control

23. Which route would you choose?
Once the orienteer makes a choice the next thing
is to navigate that route correctly

24. The successful orienteer
is always:
… Checking the map
… Noting the features as they are passed
… Keeping track of distance travelled
… Expecting what is ahead
… Planning the best way to ‘attack’ the control
… Adjusting speed to the navigation difficulty
And… ALWAYS THINKING

25. You are going to your first orienteering event. What can you expect to happen?

26. Your team gets together to travel to the event

27. You will be registered and assigned a start time

28. You will head to the START.
Make sure you take your compass,
whistle and timing chip
(Finger Stick)
After a minute to
study your course
on the map …..
You are on
your way

29. On course you navigate
to the controls on your
map, punch in and then
it is on to the next control

30. As soon as you finish you proceed to the
Download station where the information on your
Finger Stick is transferred to the event computer.
You get a record of your time and time to each control
Your result is displayed with others on a large monitor
and live on the Internet.

31. Orienteers like to get together to compare their routes to different controls.
They know there is a lot to be learned from studying the techniques of others.

32. It is really nice when the Boosters are there to provide some chow.

33. With live tracking and replay through Livelox
orienteering replays have taken on the appearance of a video game.

34. Before you know it the day is drawing to a conclusion and it is time for the awards

35. Awards. . .
. . . And Thanks

36. But Wait
There’s More!

37. Post Race Analysis
Results
Splitsbrowser graphs
Simulated time
Real time
After a race orienteers and their coaches
will use a variety of tools to help improve
their next performance.
Drawing route on map
and studying where things
went right and where
they went wrong.

38. Post Race Analysis
Event at Mabry Carlton Reserve February 2017
Female Green (Advanced) Course
Livelox tracking using GPS in smartphone
Livelox tracks orienteers live at the event
and is also used to replay the action via
storage on the Internet.
Coaches replay the action to help show the orienteer
where different decisions could lead to a better time

39. For Florida JROTC events we rank every orienteer in every event giving points for performance.
We count the orienteer’s five best results
through the year and award certificates at
the end of the orienteering season.

40. So… Read about Orienteering
Dream about Orienteering
Practice Orienteering
And soon you will find out why we call Orienteering
“The second most fun you can have in the woods”