INTRODUCTION TO

ORIENTEERING
Reported by: Joanna De Recto
Jane Alojado
 Orienteering

• Introduction
• A Brief History or Orienteering
• Review of Scout Rank Requirements
• Compass
 What is Orienteering?
Orienteering is a ‘thinking’ outdoor sport that
combines a participant’s mental ability with
physical ability. In orienteering, participants
navigate routes between isolated control points
using a compass and a map. The emphasis is on
map-reading and direction finding skills. It is
popular as both a recreational sport and a
competitive sport. The sport has several forms,
with many variations of venue, length, duration
and mode of movement. Some of the basic forms
include:
 • Cross-country orienteering with
What is results judged on a time basis.
Orienteering? • Line orienteering of a set course
with undisclosed control points.
Success depends on accuracy.
• Route orienteering that
requires participants to mark
their map correctly with the
controls.
• Score orienteering that has
numerous controls set up, each
allocated points according to
difficulty. Participants score
points by locating as many
controls as they can in a given
time.
 Types of Orienteering
Orienteering courses can be set in any environment where an
appropriate map has been made. A variety of modes of
movement can be used individually or combined to hold an
event.

Types marked with an "*" have international championships

sanctioned by the IOF (International Orienteering
Federation). Horseback, handicapped, swim and scuba events
can also be held.

• Bike Orienteering - Participants travel to each control on a

bike. Events are held on both street and mountain bikes
(mountain bike has the international championships).
 • Canoe Orienteering - Event is done on a lake
Types of or tidal water area within a canoe.

Orienteering • *Cross Country / Foot ( point-to-point) - A

course of controls to be taken in a specific
order is laid out. Lengths vary from a few
kilometers for beginners to ten or more
kilometers for experts. The classic form of
orienteering.

• Line Orienteering - Maps are marked with a

line indicating the exact route to be
followed.. Participants mark their map where
they find each control. Excellent training
event for improving map reading skills.

• Motala (individual relay) - Excellent for

school yards and small areas. Participants do
a loop of several controls and return to the
start. They then continue to do all of the
other loops.
 • Night Orienteering - Variation of
Types of point-to-point or score orienteering
Orienteering conducted at night. Controls are
marked with reflective tape and
participants use head lamps or
flashlights.

• Project Orienteering - Excellent for

use by school and scout groups. At
each control the participant
attempts to complete some type of
activity. The activity may be used to
teach a new concept or used to test
a skill.

• Relay Orienteering - Each team

member does a short course and
tags the next team member. A mass
start is usually used.
 • Rogaine ("Rugged Outdoor Group
Types of Activity Involving Navigation and
Endurance") - Teams try to locate as
Orienteering many controls as possible in a 4, 12 or
24 hour period. Similar to a score event.

• Score Orienteering - Participants try to

find as many controls as possible in a
given amount of time. Controls usually
have different point values depending
upon distance from the start and the
difficulty of navigation required to find
them.

• *Ski Orienteering - Event is done on

cross country skis. A point-to-point
event in which the participant tries to
pick the fastest route through a network
of trails.
 • Star Event - Participants must return to start between each
control. Used mainly for training.
Types of
Orienteering• String Orienteering - Used with preschoolers and primary
grade children. Controls are placed along a string which
leads the child to each of the controls. Level of difficulty
may be varied.

• *Trail Orienteering - Designed for those with disabilities.

Participants remain on the trail. It is an un-timed event
where the challenge is mental and achievement is based
upon the ability to correctly interpret the map and its
relationship to the ground.

• Trivia Orienteering - Proof-of-arrival at each control site is

confirmed by answering a question about the site.
A Brief History

• The word 'orienteering' is associated

with the very early history of the sport,
and was used by the Military Academy,
Sweden in 1886 to mean 'crossing
unknown territory with the aid of a map
and compass' .
1895
1918
• training to encourage track athletes
back to competitive running which at
the time was in decline.
• a youth leader, Ernst Killander
March 25th 1918
• he organized the first official event over
a 12km course with 3 controls
1937
• the first national
competitive event
was held in Sweden.

1961
The International
Orienteering
Federation was
established.
• Orienteering has many appealing
attributes for modern physical
education and recreation.
• People from 5-90 years old can
participate with no extraordinary
physical or mental abilities.
• Orienteering can be organized on
commonly found, accessible
tracts of land. (Schoolyards,
parks, and town forest preserves)
Equipment Clothing

Limitations If there are no conditions that says you

need to wear appropriate clothing then it
is up to the person what he wants to wear.
In forest terrain, it is strongly
recommended that the competitor’s legs
be completely covered.
Equipment Bib

Limitations The organizers may require

competitors to wear identifying numbers
on a bib on the chest and/or on the back.
The competitor shall not conceal any
information on the bib. The bib shall not be
larger than 20cm by 24cm. The numerals
should be atleast 12cm high.
 Equipment
Limitations
Activity/Control Cards
serves as controls on the school site using a map, where some of the
objects are the same, distinguished only by their orientation. Used to reinforce
the concept of map orientation. .
 Equipment
Limitations
Map and Compass
During the competition, only a compass and the map and control
descriptions provided by the organizer may be used for navigation.
The only specialized equipment you will need is an orienteering compass.
Most orienteering compasses have rectangular base plates under the compass
dial. If you obtain one, most clubs have a few rentals at each event.
 Equipment
Limitations
Legend
Orienteering maps are five-color maps, and the various types of features
will be indicated in the legend and will fall into categories that are depicted
with the colors listed below:
• Blue: water features
• Green: Vegetation features
• Yellow: Open areas
• Brown: Land forms
• Black: Manmade features
• White: Runnable forest, with minimal ground clutter
 Equipment
Limitations
Proper footwear
Competitors shall travel only on foot unless otherwise specified by the
organizers or by these rules.
 Location
Each map has a title describing
the location, and often a small
locator map will be included, which
shows the proximity to known
urban areas.
 Date
The map must be up-to-date; the
year the map was created will be
noted along with the years of any
updates that have been made
Distance contain
Orienteering maps
a bar scale given in
a ratio of centimeters to
meters. For example, on a
1:10,000 scale map, 1
centimeter on the map
equals 10,000 centimeters
or 100 meters on the
ground.
 Direction
The top of the specialized orienteering maps
indicates magnetic north, not true north, because such
maps are used exclusively by orienteers using magnetic
north-seeking compasses.
On a USGS map, the top indicates true north and
magnetic north is indicated by an arrow that points
slightly off to one side of the true north line. The angle
between true north and magnetic north is known as
"declination” The angle of declination throughout the
world.
 Elevation
Orienteering maps will have contour
intervals of either 3 or 5 meters. On a
map with 3-meter contour intervals,
the rise or fall between two contour
lines will be 3 meters, which is the
height of a high dividing springboard.
Natural- Important natural
terrain features of mappable size
features are shown. Examples of
such features are bodies
of water, including Lakes,
streams, and swamps;
cliffs; earth banks,
erosion gullies, and
boulders; and open areas.
 Scout Rank • Tenderfoot
Requirements 1. Explain the rules of safe hiking, both on the
highway and cross-country, during the day and
at night. Explain what to do if you are lost.

• Second Class
1a. Demonstrate how a compass works and how to
orient a map. Explain what map symbols mean.
1b. Using a compass and map together, take a five-
mile hike (or 10 miles by bike) approved by your
adult leader and your parent or guardian.

• First Class
1. Demonstrate how to find directions during the
day and at night without using a compass.
2. Using a compass, complete an orienteering
course that covers at least one mile and requires
measuring the height and/or width of
designated items (tree, tower, canyon, ditch, etc.).
Compass • History
• Parts
• Declination
 • Magnetic compasses are among the oldest

Compass instruments used for navigation on land and water.

The exact origin is not known but several theories
History exist.

• It is believed the Chinese were first to discover the

magnetic properties of lodestone somewhere around
2300 B.C. This ore when suspended freely, aligned
itself in a north-south position and could transfer its
magnetic properties to pieces of some other metals.
It is believed that a simple compass was developed by
suspending a magnetized piece of iron (the needle)
on light wood on the surface of a bowl of water. Yet
another theory says the Arabs discovered the
magnetism of lodestone.

• Hannibal (247 B.C. - 181 B.C.), a great military general

and leader who commanded the Carthaginian forces
against Rome, was believed to have used a magnetic
compass when he sailed from Italy in 203 B.C.
Compass • The Vikings used a basic form of compass in the eleventh
century A.D. When Marco Polo visited China in the thirteenth

History century A.D. he brought a compass back to Europe. It was in

this same century that the typical magnetic compass, as we
know it, was developed.

• A liquid-filled (damped) compass was perfected in 1862 and

adopted for use by the U.S. Navy. This type of compass was
more stable in rough conditions. In 1876 a dry-card compass
was invented and used by the British Navy until 1906, after
which they changed to a liquid-filled compass.

• Gyrocompasses came into being in the first decade of the

twentieth century and soon became standard equipment on
large ships.

• Today, digital compasses are being developed that use

satellite signals to provide accurate, non-magnetic
alignment.
Compass
Types

heavy-duty sighting

baseplate sighting

specialty novelty
digital
 Compass
Parts
scales
alignment
marks direction of travel arrow
index line
north alignment arrow
rotating housing

needle

lanyard baseplate
holes
 Protractor, Used most commonly by orienteers,
this compass measuring scales on the
or base plate base, a rotating housing for taking
compass. bearings, and often a magnifying lens. The
following are the main components of the
plate compass.
 
PARTS OF
PROTRACTOR/
BASE PLATE
COMPASS
Base plate
The Plexiglas rectangle under the compass itself is referred
to as the base plate, or protractor, and serves two purposes: it
measures distance using the scale (in centimeters) that is
imprinted on the edges, and assists the orienteer in determining
a course of level.
 
Compass housing
The compass housing is mounted on the base plate
and appears as a basic watch compass. It must rotate
freely on the protractor and should have a transparent
bottom and be dampered with liquid.
Direction-of-travel arrow
The only arrow on the base plate, located in the center of
the long end of protractor, is the direction-of-travel arrow.
Orienting, or north, arrow lines
The north is drawn on the bottom of the compass
housing. This arrow is flanked by a series of parallel,
orienting lines.
Magnetic needle
Suspended in The compass housing is a freely
rotating, floating needle. The red end of the needle
points to magnetic worth when not influenced by
nearby iron objects.
Magnifying lens
A small lens is embedded in the base plate to
aid in reading map detail.
Wrist strap
A strap attached to a compass with a slip knot at the
distal end provides protection from loss in the event of a
fall.