Discussion: Advice needed re. Using GPS to Orienteer

My basic question is: How hard is it to use a GPS to navigate to control markers (with their coordinates given)in fairly complex, but relatively open terrain?
The context is that we have been asked to organize some orienteering for a Chinese TV company blowing through town doing a segment for their weekly reality/survivor show. (580 million viewers apparently). They want something with GPS. I have used them only a bit. Am wondering if we set up an elite level course (say 10 km), will it actually be too easy if the teams all have GPS units? (I realize it will also depend on their ability level and at this point I am not sure if the participants are hard core adventure racers vs. recreational athletes thrust into a survivor show situation). Two variations I am pondering are to have them do a first loop with GPS, then return to a station at the assembly area where they hand in their GPS units and do a shorter loop with just map and compass; the second being they use GPS but need to be able to figure out which is the "real" control when they get close - i.e. we could place dummies which are not on the right feature per the O map. (ironically sounds alot like "the discipline that shall not be named"!).
If anyone has any advice re setting something like this up it would be most appreciated. I only have just over a week to pull it together.

So Denmark doesn't get the TV contract but Yukon does and upnorthguy is selling out! ;-)

Seriously though Rossco, I have never used a GPS because I am not convicned it is faster than map and compass. Some adventure races use this now and I'll have nothing to do with them. If they allow GPS why not allow motorbikes on the MTB section.

YOur option #2 seems like an appropriate thing to do. Get close with the GPS then do precision map reading.

Just never thought I would hear upnorthguy advocating GPS and micrO! There has definately been a disturbance in the force....

If you are not convinced that GPS is faster than map and compass why do you compare it to using motorbikes on the MTB section?

GPS doesn't make route choices. Give 'em a place that's challenging to get to, and let them use GPS, but set it up so that by paying attention to the map, they can avoid going through the thickets or swamps or whatever. The idea being that an orienteer could do it just fine with no need for the GPS, but non-orienteers can get there provided they have the GPS, and they can get there faster if they use the map as well.

Another option is to give partial maps, like "window orienteering" where portions of the map are missing, and have the naviguessers crossing through those sections with the help of the gps.

I second j-j's idea. Keeping things simple from a logistics point of view is probably a good idea. Make straight-line shots inferior route choices.

I tagged along on some Geocaching last summer. It's not as easy to use GPS as one might think, especially if you have no map. It can be slow pinpointing the actual location. To make it harder, Geocachers hide the object of desire by disguising it (they are not supposed to bury it) but they do give clues. Finding a control that's hanging wouldn't be bad once you get in the area.

I used GPS a bunch years back too. Reception drops out due to tree cover or hills blocking lines of sight to satellites. When my old Garmin GPS III got bumped too much it'd cut out. I didn't play with the GPS compass much. I'd much prefer a regular compass.

If geocaching involved large orange and white flags, it would be trivial. Much of the difficulty is more in the actual sneaky hiding location than the "getting there" part. If you have a GPS and a map, it'd have to involve some pretty serious route choice to be challenging.

The only advantage I could see from using GPS right now is that if you really get turned around, you can relocate instantly. At night on a USGS map that could be a significant advantage, therefore I'd hate to see the use of GPS become common in adventure racing. I don't think orienteers have much to worry about in the short term - map and compass are significantly quicker unless you're making big mistakes.

In the long term, GPS does threaten the sport in much the way that computers currently threaten chess. You can outlaw them, but the knowledge that a machine can do it better removes some of the appeal from the sport. I would expect that a "navigating machine" that can consistently guide a person through terrain better than if they relied on a map is still 10-20 years away, but that's only because there's no market for it.

The technology currently does a fine job of delivering cruise missiles. Reporters watching the rockets navigate between the buildings of Bagdad commented that they so accurately followed the roads, you almost expected them to stop at the red lights. Modifying the code to compute an optimal human route is merely implementation details.

I bought a handheld GPS for backup navigation in sailing, knowing I would also bring it with me while hiking. There are also various opinions on the usefullness vs reliability of GPS in the sailing community. Even though I am quite familiar with the technology, I'm firmly in the camp that it should not be used as a sole means of navigation in any environment. With respect to orienteering, I can say that I'm much faster at navigating through the forest with map & compass than I would be using GPS, even though I'm not that good of an orienteer.

However, I did encounter a particular useful aspect of GPS that could be adapted to your "Northern Survival!" event. Often, I'll explore new parks and areas I haven't been to before for the purpose of light hiking and photography. Recently, I started doing this without obtaining or bringing maps of the area, but just my using my memory of my route and where I parked the car. I also set the GPS to record where the car was and to record my route as I walked. Since I wasn't hiking anywhere specific, just seeking interesting photgraphic
subjects, I often found myself in areas where the backtracking route "home" was significantly longer than if I just used the GPS to head "straight" back to the car. In reality my routes were never "straight" as it depended on terrain, but they were shorter and I had new subjects to photograph along the way. I reasoned that if I encountered any difficulties I could always backtrack the long way home, but thus far it's always worked.

The relevant part of this story is that for locations I found interesting, I would obtain the maps and figure out where I went based on my memory and the GPS record. Subsequent visits to the areas involved map and GPS to revisit the location of interest. I would navigate primarily with the map, but use the GPS to "steer" me. When I arrived at the site as directed by GPS, I would confirm and mark this location on my map.

So, my suggestion is:
- Provide GPS LAT/LON co-ordinates for your course.
- Provide Maps without the course drawn in and without LAT/LON grid.
- Don't put any flags / controls out.
- The task for the paticipant teams is to use GPS and MAP to navigate to the co-ordinates, then, place a flag? / marker? on the ground where they think the co-ordinates are, and circle on the map where they think they are.
- "Points" can be gained for having the marker closest to the actual site, and extra points can be had based on the accuracy of their circle on the map.

Every team should be able to use the GPS to get to the site and place their flag. (with TV cameras watching I'm sure) But the better teams will use their maps to fine tune route choice and thus accomplish it faster. The best teams should be the ones that have the circle on their map placed accurately.

You could probably do some legs the other way more like current orienteering:
- Don't provide the GPS co-ordinates, but provide the MAP with the control circle.
- Don't put any flags / controls out.
- The task is to use the MAP to navigate to the site, and place their team flag where they think it should be, and also record this location on their GPS.
- Points are based on flag location and GPS co-ordinates which in this version are essentially the same thing.

Some warnings on GPS usage:
Reception of satellite signals in the forest can be unreliable depending mostly on the density of the forest. Getting a better brand or version of a GPS unit does not make that much of a difference. For example, in the Southwestern BC rainforest, my experience is that the GPS can only track satellites approximately 30% of the time, which would be unworkable for your type of event. I don't know what terrain you're planning to use, but you should test the GPS in the area first. I think if you're going to do anything with GPS during your event, you will need reliable satellite reception 100% of the time, unless your particpants are knowledgeable enough about GPS to determine when or when not to use / trust it. Also, if your participants have never used GPS before, be prepared for a learning curve as would accompany learning how to use any new device / software. You could encounter a situation where the event is more about how to operate the darn thing than navigating in the forest.

You sure were not given much time / notice to set this up. How did that happen? I'm sure you'll do fine though. How many points to do get for exposing "orienteering" to this many viewers!

Another way to setup a competition would be to use either ribbons or small O-bags to make it harder to find. When they start, they have only one coodinate and a map. The map doesn't even have to be an O-map. At each bag, have the coordinates of only the next control. A competitor wouldn't know how many there are unless they got to them all thus completing the course.

When does this happen? When does it get cynically dubbed for late night US TV?

This weekend. There are actually only two teams (of 2 each - one man, one woman). Apparently they started the season with 3000 - these are the finalists. But I am still not sure if they really know anything about navigation. If it comes off as planned Forest Pearson and I will be household names in Shanghai.
Will keep you posted.

Probably a little late for suggestions, but one that comes to mind is that you could let the competitors choose their weapon. They can either use the USGS map and GPS or an Orienteering map and compass. Put the controls where the extra detail on the O-map is helpful - but only if you know how to use it.

There's an article in today's Globe and Mail about the show, being shot in BC and Yukon. The second the over 500 million viewers. Question, will the event director be with or without pants?