Street Event Planning

How to create a street event for use with MapRun

This is how I would do it, based on experience derived from trial (and error). Others may do things differently. I use Windows 10. Some things may be different on an Apple machine. Don't be put off by this looking long and complex – it is all quite simple, and the only long part is going out and finalising control locations.

First create a folder for the event.

To create the map:

Load OpenOrienteeringMap (oomap.co.uk), select 'global', scroll/zoom into the area where you want to create the map.

Click on a point at the centre of the area you want use as a map, this will create the map. Select the appropriate scale and orientation. You can reposition the map by clicking on the purple dot, then using the drag handle.

In the editable panel on the right change the name of the map and enter the event date if you wish.

Click 'Save & get PDF' map. If you get 'Validation Error' click 'Save and create anyway'.

Save the PDF to the event folder and change its name to the event name.

Click on 'KMZ'. Move the resulting file from the Downloads folder to the event folder and change its name to the event name.

Print a copy of the PDF.

To plan the event, phase 1:

Draw circles on your map where you would like to place controls, start triangle and finish circle.

Connect them and number them in the sequence you wish to visit them, i.e. create a line course. (note: this does not have to start from the start triangle, or finish at the finish circle, but the start and the finish must be included in the line course at some point)

Use Google Earth to create a skinny KML file as follows. Go to 'Projects', click on 'New project', click on 'Create KML file'. Change 'Untitled Project' to the name of your event. Click on 'Add placemark' (bottom left of screen), position cursor where you want to start checking control sites and click. In the side panel that pops up change 'Untitled Placemark' to S1, then use left arrow (top left) to collapse this side panel. Repeat this procedure to add one dummy control (I normally call it 99) and the point at which you will finish which must be F1. Click on the menu dots. Click on 'Export as KML file'. Move the resulting downloaded KML file to the event folder.

To plan the event, phase 2:

Create a 'CheckSites' course as follows (if you search google for 'maprun checksites' you will find a page that explains the CheckSites function, and there is a link to the CheckSites page– in fact, it is worth exploring the MapRun website, it is comprehensive and contains lots of good stuff).

Enter the event name, your name, email address, select your KMZ and KML files, and add the event.

You will be given a six digit code. Make note of this.

Locating / Fixing control sites:

On your mobile start MapRun. Hit the menu button. Hit 'CheckSites'. Enter the six digit code, OK. Your event will appear under 'Select Event'. Go to 'Options and Settings'. Turn on 'Display present location' and 'Display track'. Left arrow back to main MapRun display. Hit 'Go to Start'. Your map will appear with your S1, F1 and 99, and a red dot marking your current location. When you pass through S1 it will turn green. You are now able to record control sites.

Now follow your map and at each control circle that you have marked do the following: locate a suitable definable feature (eg transformer, fire hydrant, speed limit sign, rainbow coloured letter box); press the location pointer (top right of screen); in the'Drop a Pin' box which appears enter the circle number from your map, the control description (an abbreviation, eg trans, fh, sls), and some way of quickly and accurately locating it in a Google Earth type street view (most commonly the street number of the nearest house). Ensure that you pass through 99 at some stage (check that it does turn green – if 99 hasn't turned green then F1 won't be able to register). Finally pass through F1.

Hit the menu on the ensuing results screen. Use 'Email Track' to send it to your email address. Rename and save the gpx file attachment into your event folder. Google search for a 'gpx to kml' converter (I find GPX2KML the simplest and quickest to use), convert your gpx file (you only need to convert the 'waypoints') and save the resulting kml file to your event folder (you can overwrite your original kml file if you wish, you because shouldn't need it again).

Google search and load 'maprun console'. Click the menu button (top left), click 'Create KML course'. Click 'Choose map file (KMZ)', select your kmz file. Click 'Import a file', click 'KML file', slide 'Opacity' left, select 'satellite' view. You will now have a satellite image with your controls superimposed on it. There is a good 'How to Use' page available. Please read it. Particularly note that accurate positioning can only be done in the overhead view. Only use street view to confirm visually that you are in the right place (because you may not be able to see your control feature clearly in the satellite imagery. I always have 'GWRC Maps', 'Base information' loaded in a browser in another window with all layers deselected – these images are 'flown' rather than satellite, and are particularly good resolution. So you can pick the precise location in GWRC image and then move the pin to the exact same position in the satellite image.)

You are now able to reposition any controls that you need to. You can add controls or delete controls if you wish. Make sure that you have S1 and F1 positioned correctly (they may be different for the event from where you had them for checksites) and move them to the first and last positions in the 'list of controls', and that you have deleted your 99 control.You must also at this point give each control its final number. Make sure that you Save/Download Course (KML).

You have now created your course. You must now send your KMZ and KML files to your MapRun administrator to create the event.

Creating the Competition Map (again, my way – there other ways)

Download 'OpenOrienteering Mapper' (from https://www.openorienteering.org/). This is a mapping tool similar to Ocad, but free. Follow the instructions carefully, there are plenty of ways you can go wrong, but if I have got the steps right and you follow them, you should be ok.

Start 'OpenOrienteering Mapper'. Click 'Create a new map …'. Set the scale (eg 1:10000). Select 'ISSprOM 2019_4000 (1 : 4000)'. Click 'Create'. Answer 'Yes' to the symbol scaling question. Click 'Templates → Open template...'. Browse and select your KMZ file. Click 'File → Export as... → PDF'. Position the map inside the red boxes (play about moving the map and the borders – you want to make the map fill the red box and only appear to have one red box). It is most important that you do not move the red box's lines for this event from now on. Click 'Show templates'. Page format should be A4, select the correct orientation. Click 'Export'. Save to your event folder. This is your base map.

Now in 'OpenOrienteering Mapper' Click 'File → Import...'. Browse and select your KML file. Click 'OK' in resulting window. You should now have a small purple dot at every point at which you have a control location, and these will be enclosed in a red dashed square. Click on the purple circle. Hit 'Ctrl/G'. The dots will change to circles. Click 'File → Export as... → PDF'. The map should be positioned correctly. Click 'Export'. Save to your event folder. This is your base map with controls added.

You will see that some of the circles do not appear to be quite in the right place on the map. This is fixed using Purple Pen, which is also used to add any other info to the map, eg control descriptions, club logo, etc.

Creating the final map with Purple Pen.

Go to 'https://purplepen.golde.org/' and download Purple Pen. Start Purple Pen. Click 'Create a new event...', click OK. Enter 'Event Title;' click 'Choose map file...', browse and select your base map with controls. Set map scale, then default printing scale, select orientation. Accept the default settings on the next three screens. (It would be nice in the third of these screens to set 'Starting code:' to 10, but whatever you tell it it will always revert to 31 – don't complain, all these tools are free!). Then click 'Finish'. Your map will appear, with control circles.

Click 'Event → Customise Appearance...'. In 'Scale item sizes:' select 'Relative to map scale'. Click OK.

For each control (working from lowest number to highest): Click 'Add Control'; position control circle in the correct place (this may or may not be in exactly the same place as the original circle) and left click – control circle will be place and given a control code; click on the control code in the table at left and replace it with the correct code.

When all control codes have been entered, place the Start Triangle and the Finish Circle using the same technique as for the control circles.

Click 'Event → Map File...'. Click 'Choose map file...', browse and select your base map, OK. (It is because of this change that you saved the base map right at the start in OpenOrienteering Mapper, and why it was important not to change the print registration box before printing the final map with controls – it is the only way that you can guarantee that the two PDFs will have the same registration). Your base map without controls will replace the one with controls on it. If you need to move any control numbers because they obliterate map detail you can do this by clicking on the number then dragging it to a better position. Be careful not to accidentally move the circle itself during this process. You now have your competition map. You now have to add all the other bits like control descriptions, club logo, etc.

Adding to the final map.

You can add any missing roads or paths. Click 'Add → Line', then change 'Color:', 'Style:' and 'Width:' to suit (you will need to experiment). Click OK. You will now be given a cross-hair cursor. Click and drag this to go to the next point, repeat until complete, double click to finish. (again, you will need to experiment with this – also, by clicking on any point you may move that point if you wish).

Add everything else by clicking 'Add → Image', then browsing for the required image. Once loaded the image can be sized to suit.

You can only add image files, eg JPG, GIF, etc. Your control descriptions will almost certainly be created as a WP document. What I do is save this as a PDF, then convert it to a JPG. There are various online ways of doing this, but I have found any that I have tried to be slow and not necessarilyeffective, so I have downloaded a PDF converter. It is very basic, but does a perfect job. You can find it here: https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/pdf-to-jpeg/9WZDNCRDQCQX?hl=en-us&gl=US. This will give you JPG which is an exact copy of your PDF. You will need to crop all of the surrounding white space. I use a very good (and once again free) image processing tool called 'IrfanView' which can be found on the web.

Your Map should now be perfect, so save and print (just one copy first to visually check the hard-copy).