Discussion: OCAD 6 and sCOOL OCAD 7

I am following up on some references in a German school orienteering book, and wanted to make sure that there is still access somewhere to the free OCAD 6 version, but can't find it anywhere. The sCOOL OCAD 7 can be downloaded for free, but seems to be available only in German, French and Italian. Or maybe OCAD 8 can be found somewhere?
I know, there is OOM, but I am really just looking for verifying whether the referenced info is still valid.

Forget about OCAD 6, even if available it's so far off later versions it's not funny - and crap compared to OOM. Also very unstable.

HELPFUL advice for Andrea - any one?
.
.
.
oh. This is ATTACK point.

If you can find a link to OCAD 6, you’re better at internet searches than me (probably not saying much).

Use the WayBack Machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170616010237/http://...

Told you it wasn’t saying much!

I only wanted to know whether it is me just not finding the links indicated in the literature (links that I knew existed), but I think the 21 day trial of the subscription model now replaces that. In any case, I am trying to figure out how to adjust the info to still be valid for teachers who would like to look into some basic O-map making and orienteering without ample knowledge about orienteering. Like referencing the British School Mapping guidelines would mean sending someone on a wild goose chase for software that is not accessible anymore as referenced.

OCAD 6 is still hiding there on the OCAD site!

http://www.ocad.ch/download/Ocad6/ocad6en.exe

If you want them to have an easy way to create a simple orienteering-style map, just browse to: http://oomap.co.uk/global/
This app automatically displays OpenStreetMap data to look like an orienteering map. Surely not as detailed, but good for a run through city streets. It lets you create the map, the controls, and the course with only a web browser.

thanks haywoodkb - good for down the road, and maybe because the building shape is already drawn it could be useful for school grounds maps. For school grounds, the British School Mapping has adjusted scale symbols as OCAD files from which one can start, without having to fiddle with the OCAD scale and symbol sizes first.
Or use sCool OCAD 7 not in English and learn a foreign language ;)
@andyd - I tried to see if OCAD 8 is there, too somewhere.
But I guess overall, if it's a class project, the 21 day trial subscription could work out too, maybe learn one's way around in English, and then use sCool OCAD 7....

I'd probably avoid OCAD 6 only because it doesn't implement georeferencing. OCAD 8 does for TIFF files with internal georeferencing. As far as I know, OOMapper still requires a separate world file even for TIFFs with internal georeferencing. You can use free QGIS software to create the world file for TIFFs with only internal georeferencing.

Any recommendation for older versions assumes you can get by without the need for georeferencing, and in my option, that's a bad assumption.

The ability to import OpenStreetMap vectors can be a really good start for O mapping. It can also be a complete waste of time.

I recognize Andreais is interested in a very specific question, so I defer to her experience.

Cedarcreek your advice to yourself to avoid OCAD 6 is probably the right advice. So too for anyone else wishing to produce a map where down the road a competition will be held where Livelox or some other gps tracking or Route Gadget will be used.
However for all its modern failings OCAD 6 is still a good 'starter' mapping tool that does not have an expiry date. I hope my advice to schools and others to use OCAD 6 or OOM to make and improve local maps has been valid.
But Cedarcreek what is your experience that leads you to say Open Street Map 'can also be a complete waste of time'? OSM has always provided me with an idiot-proof (I'm the idiot) road to starting a geo-referenced OCAD 12 map.

Let's be clear:

OOMapper is a free, open-source orienteering cartography package that supports georeferencing.

OSM (OpenStreetMap) vectors vary in their accuracy. The worst, in my experience, is roads in remote areas, and the best is in cities that have allowed their high-quality data to be imported (such as Louisville).

I find sprint maps to be the best use of OSM, although typically mappers will redraw almost everything. I've done OSM imports in remote areas that I didn't even give to the mapper because the lidar showed everything much better and the OSM vectors were off so much.

In a few cases, I've needed an automatic O' map quickly, and I spend several hours touching up the OSM vectors. It helped that the "USGS" aerials were leaf-off and very good. If you edit in OSM, look for a box to highlight "Unedited TIGER data". Unedited TIGER data is a good sign it's bad.

All data is good data, but you must define your scale. If you are mapping a city or county at 1:50,000 TIGER data would be fine. For street-O or MTB-O at 1:20,000 the OSM should be fine in most cases. But for a school campus map at 1:10,000 or 1:7,500 this crowd-sourced data must be viewed with a skeptical eye. If Lidar is available, OSM and Tiger data would only pollute the results.

In my experience TIGER data is often not just out-of-place, but also completely fictitious. My experience is almost completely roads in parks, and it's shocking to expect a road from TIGER data, and there is no road.

Sadly, not all data is good data.

I would describe OSM more as a time-sink then a waste of time. The nice thing is that after import you can tell the source of most data and then decide what to do with it. I just mark and hide data I am not sure of. I used to delete it but it is often useful.

OSM for my area now has 13 background options, with many of them leaf off. While their geo-referencing can vary I find them useful in creating vectors.

There are two items that are pretty well 'can't miss' with Open Street Map.
One is the public road network and the other is the geo-referencing of the area chosen.
I have started maps with Open Street Map perhaps close to 50 times in the last three years or so.
Sometimes all I get is a street framework that I can infill with information traced from Google Earth or other sources put in to background (loaded as a template) as well as LiDAR files from the USGS and because the Open Street Map comes geo-referenced for me the LiDAR information fits right in without sweat on my part.
Sometimes I strike a motherlode and the internal information from OSM is very good.
See for yourself. Search Open Street Map for University of Florida, Vatican City, the White House in Washington DC and you will get great starts for orienteering maps at those locations.
Pretty well any university in the USA is well mapped on Open Street Map. Dartmouth College? Had the map before the NAOC Sprints. Montana State U? U of New Mexico? Done them. UCLA? Started it, still need the LiDAR.
Add in the OCAD 12 New Map Wizard with its ability to import and automatically convert OSM vectors and I have new orienteering base maps that used to take days of painstaking work done in hours.

OOPS! Spoke too soon. Just came across a new warning and reason I could not download OSM file to OCAD 12 New Map Wizard. It told me the XML file was missing the 'top level element'. What the heck is that?