NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN MAKING ORIENTEERING MAPS

L. Zentai

Department of Cartography and Geoinformatics, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary

zetor@ludens.elte.hu

 

Orienteering maps are special type of maps which are mostly made by non-professionals. The technology of making these maps (fieldwork, drawing) has considerably changed in the past 20 years.

Base maps can be made by digital photogrammetry or air-borne laser scanning technology, but the methods of creating state topographic maps (which are used as base maps of orienteering maps) have also changed in the last few years. The accuracy of these maps has also increased to help the users.

In the field-working we can use GPS devices (sometimes with real-time differential corrections) for measuring points and lines. GPS devices are available for more than 20 years, but they became used in field-working as regular techniques only in the last few years.

For faster, but not very accurate distance measurements we can use ordinary laser distance finders.

The orienteering maps are drawn by computer software; in some countries these were the first type of maps which were created only by computer methods.

Orienteering maps are good indicators how the new cartographic techniques are easily applicable for non-professionals or how widely they are used as everyday techniques.

The paper summarizes the milestones of the development of these techniques to understand how we can make these methods and devices more user-friendly and simpler.