Discussion: Map Storage

Does anyone have a neat and organized solution for storing orienteering maps...? Mine outgrew their 3" binder a long time ago, and now they're just in a messy, un-alphabetized pile.

more 3-ring binders :)

Yeah! I have a binder per year, maps in chronological order. My mother has geographically labeled binders, maps in alphabetical order.

Mike prefers chronological; I prefer geographical. Sorry to tell you this Brooke, but your collection is just beginning. We're up to two lateral filing cabinets now, plus big bins for special collections (KC/Lawrence, SLOC, and West Point/Harriman). Because, as everyone knows, you never, ever, ever throw out an orienteering map.

I'm scanning maps going forward; don't know if I will ever go back and scan old maps.

Rick DeWitt seemed very proud of the map filing cabinet he scavenged while driving around Bethel. Library-quality (USGS section). Since paper is being obsoleted, maybe a library would be indeed a good place to look for one of these?

We're beginning to think that we may need one of those nice map drawers for our house. The binders are fine for maps with courses you've run - they're all folded up anyway - but then there's this giant box of all the other maps, some of which (Jukola master map, clean prints of WOC maps, etc) it would be nice to keep unfolded.

I've got a wonderful map filing cabinet that I got from my parents when they moved from their house to an apartment. Office-quality steel case, 8 drawers are 30" wide x 24" deep x 2" high. Can lay just about any map flat without folding. They aren't cheap, so I'd agree that the best bet would be to hunt for one used.

I have a cabinet like Eric's that I use for large clean maps, posters, etc. which we used to have at work (and work picked it up used), but it was just storage for useless stuff, so I threw out the stuff and snagged the cabinet. I think mine is only four drawers.

For my race maps, I have a two-drawer legal-width filing cabinet with hanging folders, roughly one for each state (though some states I've been to rarely are combined, and "Continental Europe" is all one folder, while some northeast states are subdivided), and there are some other folders, e.g. canoe-O is all in one place.

Old thread: "Archiving Maps"

For some reason, I couldn't find this with the attackpoint search function. I had to go to google: "site:attackpoint.org map cabinet"

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Thanks, too, cedarcreek, for posting the link to the previous disucssion. I assumed there had to be something like that, but I didn't find it via the AP search function, either...

Since the old thread, mine have moved into a set of 3 big plastic stacking drawers, which are also full now. I should be able to just buy additional drawers to add to the stack. However, they are still in a horrible state of disorganization. I sort them once in awhile, but when I pull some out to look at them they never seem to get back into the proper stack and then it is just a random pile again.

With the recession, there's been a surplus of used office equipment...particularly from defunct architects' offices. I found a fire-proof Flat File for under $50 at a used office furniture outlet to hold my wife's drawings. She lets me use one drawer for my orienteering maps. We bought extension legs for our guest bed so the cabinet can fit neatly underneath. Guests tell us they feel very royal sleeping up so high.

But one question: what kind of information do you record on your competition map before filing? I try to always include:
- my route in red solid line (not dots) from circle to circle
- pace on long legs in min/km
- subtle attack points & catching features that I used, lightly encircled in pencil
- an evaluation of other, better routes, in light pencil
- clue sheet, marked up with minutes of error on each leg
- special notes on back of map of problems or little victories :-)

I store my maps and routes on RouteGadget now. Less clutter around the house.

I write down a lot less info than you do, Clark. Route in orange marker, date/time/place, splits on the back along with winner's name and time.