Discussion: Maps

A few weeks late posting these, but here you go.

1st half
2nd half

awesome

For those interested in creating a corn maze orienteering experience near them, here are some places to contact.

Ha! That directory shows 14 other corn mazes in the Seattle metro, but doesn't list the one that we went to (which is the biggest).

Also, there's an outfit called MazePlay that designs and builds a lot of corn mazes around the country. They've actually re-invented orienteering, because you can get a detailed maze map with checkpoints to find. Which means that you can go corn maze orienteering on your own without asking anyone to set anything up for you.

Considering how many MazePlay mazes there are, and just how many people attend them, I think it's a safe bet that MazePlay and its member farms have more orienteering starts than all of Orienteering USA and its member clubs.

If a person does orienteering, but did not know that what he/she did was orienteering, was it still orienteering...?

If a person does suunnistus, but did not know that what he/she did was suunnistus, was it still suunnistus...?

We just need to sign up the Corn Mazes as OUSA member organizations and we get two birds with one stone:

Aging average attendee problem solved.
Starts growth and meet attendance problem solved.

Road Runner Sports Adventure Runs have about the same number of annual starts as all OUSA clubs combined.

Road Runner Sports Adventure Runs have about the same number of annual starts as all OUSA clubs combined.

Agreed, and I've said that elsewhere on AP.

The issue with RRS is that there's little emphasis on navigation and maps. If you pre-register with a smartphone, it's all google-ified. If you don't, it's just basically a list of locations and a generic giant map on a wall. It's a publicity stunt with a little bit of orienteering DNA mixed in there.

But the MazePlay stuff, how is this NOT orienteering? Accurate paper maps? Check. Punchcards at checkpoints? Check. Pay to enter? Check. Rules to follow? Check.

Here are some of the things said in that slideshow:
-- "Wear good sturdy shoes... wear clothes for playing in the outdoors."
-- "Bring your family and friends."
-- "Make sure that you read and understand the rules."
-- "Be sure that you get your punchcard. It is your map to fun and adventure!"
-- "There are so many choices."
-- "I found the checkpoint! Now I can punch my card... and look for the next one!
-- "I am going to be the first to finish... the fastest!"

That sounds like orienteering to me.

Mazeplay has a national footprint. Orienteering USA has a national footprint. Seems like there should be a natural relationship here.

Do they have 7 courses, and do they charge $10 or less?

Do they have a sample course & map anywhere?

I guess their "Get Lost!" is not trademark infringement because it only has one "!"...

"Get Lost!!" is not trademarked, nor is "Get Lost!" or "Get Lost". I actually don't believe much in trademark IP or in patents; to me, IP without a shipping product is irrelevant. We did have a somewhat long discussion with Get Lost Racing, LLC, but it was focused on avoiding marketplace confusion and not on IP per se, and became moot when GLR decided to not host events in the near future.

If someone starts to host rogaines and sanctioned orienteering events as Get Lost!, I'll talk to them.

Looks like the participating maze, closest to PG, would be Quarry Brook Farm in W Suffield, CT.

That looks like a very cool maze, ditto for the course.

It's interesting how much the mazes can very. The ones at Mike's Maze are very artistic and have a lot more open space. The ones at Bob's Maze are all about paths, and there's only one way in, only one way out.

Do they have 7 courses, and do they charge $10 or less?

7 courses? No.

Charge $10 or less? Depends on the farm. At Bob's, it's $8 per person (adult daytime), and $12 (adult nighttime). You save $1 per entry if you bring a group over 20. We brought 124!

Do they have a sample course & map anywhere?

I don't see any from a quick web search, but check with RMOC, since their event was at in a MazePlay maze. My wife also went to a MazePlay maze here in WA. I've seen the map, and it looks pretty similar to the one the cartoon kid is holding in that slideshow.

GuyO, here's one from 2012 (I haven't scanned my 2013 map yet). The maze is partially covered by my GPS track (the orange line), but you can still get the idea... :-)

I guess what I'd really like to know is how is the course (sequence of punches) is depicted on the MazePlay map. Or is it?

Guy, it's there, but really small, and partially obscured by Brooke's track. Small red circles with numbers. No connecting lines, so it's a score-o, which is what we also do in Seattle with our event.

The beauty with MazePlay is that mapping, printing, course design, course setting, registration/payment, are all already done. Just show up and run.

GuyO, here's what the control circles and control stands look like on MazePlay's courses:


Note the 1 and 6 on the upper left. (This is upside down because, for our first event a few years ago, I rotated the map to magnetic north, added the start/finish symbols, etc. I didn't bother with that in subsequent years, b/c we went to a different farm and their map happened to be roughly oriented to north already.)

@BBrooke: Thanks for the pics!
Just to be clear, the lines on the map represent the paths/cuts? If so, are larger open areas filled in with the path color?

@Pink: Thanks for all the info!
BTW, did you use any of the MazePlay checkpoints as control locations?

Guy, the farm CascadeOC goes to is not a MazePlay creation. Bob the farmer designs his own using graph paper and pencil. Acreage-wise, Bob's maze is the largest I've found in the Seattle metro. However, some of the MazePlay ones can shoehorn more miles of paths into a smaller area.

GuyO, the solid purple, blue, and green lines on that snippet are the trails. The areas in between are filled with corn. There are usually three separate, color-coded sections, with six controls in each section. Each color-coded section begins and ends in the same area, so you'll see adjacent lines of the same color near the start / finish.

Thanks!