GIVE ME A MAP AND I'M MAGIC!
Some years ago I've envied a sticker
that a friend had in it's car with this phrase that I always liked a
lot.
Having in it self some mysticism
it's very meaningful and describes the essence of Orienteering - the
map! All the rest is just a complementary accessory to this enchanted
object.
The map is magic for it's
achievement potential but also for the immeasurable amount of
information that it contains. If instead of using this pictorial way
of representing the terrain we choose to write it in words it would
take several volumes to host all the information included in a simple
map.
It would be a cyclopic task to try
to write down the complexity of an intricate terrain or a mazy of
stones and rock faces of a mountain area with all the relations of
direction/distance and respective height.
And all this information is
available to the initiated in this witchery with a simple glance.
There is no need to look for the correct page we just have to follow
our thumb.
It's truly magic to be able to go
strait to "that" stone in the middle of other thousands of
identical ones!
It's sensorially magic to move in
high speed in nature knowing exactly where we are on the map (it
still is when we don't know)!
It's comfortingly magic to be at an
unknown terrain and feel at home in the cosiness of the map!
It's meltingly magic to share the
smile on a child’s face when she manages to match the map with the
terrain!
If information is power each of us
is a titan with a map on the hands and shiny eyes!
As a mapper I
feel really privileged for being a builder of enchantments and I dare
to go further and rephrase it to: Give me a
blank paper and I'll give you magic!
Luís Sérgio
PS: When I wrote this “daydream”
I was a professional mapper, but since February I have embraced an
enterprise management challenge. Anyway Orienteering and mapping
still makes my heart tic faster...
I STILL REMEMBER WHEN COURSES USED TO BE STAMPED ON MAPS!
This statement might sound strange to
most of you, but it is really true that on the 80 and beginning of
the 90 there was a giant stamp that was used to print the courses on
the maps. This system called Mulle and was created in Sweden (where
else?!) and Portuguese Orienteering Federation (POF) had two of them
that used to be always on the move to every competitions allover
Portugal.
Back then maps were printed blank
(without course) some thousands of them each time to be used in
competitions and trainings. Before using the maps courses had to be
printed on them. The Mulle system consisted in two overlapped boards
and the bottom one had some fittings that allowed placing the map on
the same position and also guides to lead the top board that was
movable. It was on the top board that the rubbers with course
elements in relief were glued (start triangle, finish, control
circles, connection lines, refreshments, numbers, etc.)
I will now try to describe all the
steps needed to implement this system in chronologic order. The aim
of this lesson is that all of you become efficient in this task,
because with this actual crises we never know when we will need to
use it again…
1 – plan the courses and draw each of
them on an individual blank map;
2 – glue a double faced tape on the
top board (there should be a sticky area more or less the size of the
map;
3 – place the map with the previously
drawn course on the fittings of the bottom board (be sure to insist
with the print shop to be very accurate with the cutting of the maps
edges, because any difference between the maps will cause a deviation
of the course. Always try to use maps from the same package that
probably had the same cut);
4 – place the start triangle, the
finish and the control circles on their respective positions on the
map, with the printing part facing down;
5 – hold the top board and place it
over the bottom one, so that the elements placed on the map get glued
on the sticky tape;
6 – wet the stamp with ink on the
giant pad. I hadn’t mentioned it yet but yes the giant stamp had a
correspondent giant stamp pad that is soaked with magenta ink (oh…
i sure missed the characteristic smell of that ink… it was worth
the trouble of going to POF just to sniff it again);
7 – with the stamp wet with ink place
the top board again on the bottom one, therefore printing those
elements on the map;
8 – check carefully the correct
positions of the printed elements and make the necessary adjustments
if any is displaced;
9 – place all the complementary
elements (refreshments, mandatory passages, forbidden routes,
registration mark, course info, etc.) on their positions on the map
and again proceed to pick them with the top board as previously done;
10 – place the top board on a table
with the elements facing up and use the line elements with different
sizes to connect the circles. If need used more than one to make the
line (please avoid to cut them unless completely necessary);
11 – proceed to number the control
points which can be done by placing them on the map, or directly on
the top board which I find easier. As the number must be placed
inverted special care must be used with the number 4 because it is
common to place it wrong.
Now the stamp is ready to be used and
the printing process can start requiring two persons to implement it.
One of them will be in charge of placing each printing map on the
correct positions on the bottom board and remove it after printed
always checking it-s quality. (pay special attention to the
registration marks to confirm their correct positioning). The second
person is responsible to wet the stamp on the pad and press it on the
map (he should control the printing quality and add more ink to the
pad if necessary).
As for sure you have concluded by now
the course printing with this system was a time consuming and
exhausting task, as it had to be repeated to each course. It was very
important to plan the best order to print the courses to use as much
as possible the setting of the previous course to reduce the
preparation work.
There were really experts on this task
on the clubs, from which I point out Paulo Marques - AAMafra, that
performed this task with an impressive quality. Speaking of him…
where the hell is Paulo?
This system might seem to be archaic
(and it sure is now) but back then it was really revolutionary
because before it each course had to be hand drawn. I find it really
ironic that I had to wait 20 years of not using the system to produce
the best instructions ever to use the Mulle system!!!
Unfortunately most of the rubbers are
completely ruined having the consistence of gum. Apparently the
relation of the rubbers with the ink is not very peaceful and just
the Swedish words and older classes (-65 -70 -80) escaped corrosion
as they were less used.
Luís Sérgio
[see the original version HERE]
No comments:
Post a Comment