Glossary of Orienteering Terms

We provide this list of words and phrases commonly used in orienteering for anyone who wants to know the language of the sport.

"A" Meet
An event conforming to the highest United States Orienteering Federation standards. Performance in "A" meets counts in determining national rankings of competitive orienteers.

"B" Meet
An event which conforms to most, but not all, USOF standards Some "B" meets are counted in the rankings.

Bike-O or Bike Orienteering
A Bike-O is a variation of a normal Orienteering event. Instead of walking or running, you ride a bicycle. Instead of through the woods, you travel on the streets. As with regular orienteering the objective to visit each one of the controls (locations) in the prescribed order, punch or mark a card to verify that you visited that control and when the route is complete, check in at the finish. The Bike-O can be a competitive event or it can be a leisurely afternoon for a family. What makes the Bike-O interesting is that you are given a map that has none of the names of the streets on it. Expert navigation skills are not required, but being able to count how many blocks you should go before you turn right or left really helps.

Boulder
A free standing rock, large enough to be distinguished from its surroundings. It is mapped as a black dot.

"C" Meet
A local event which does not count in the rankings.

Cliff
A vertical or nearly vertical feature. Ordinarily a cliff less than two meters high isn't mapped. A mapped cliff is shown on the map by a black bar with teeth—it looks like a comb.

Climb
The amount of uphill climbing (ignoring downhill travel) that must be done to complete a course. Some routes may minimize climb, but be quite long. Others may be short, but have a lot of climb. The course description usually states the amount of climb along an optimum route which balances climb and distance.

Clue sheet
A list of controls to be visited, in the order in which they are to be visited. For each control, the clue sheet specifies the control code, and describes the feature. On beginner and intermediate courses, the descriptions are in words; an international set of symbols is used for advanced courses.

Contour line
A brown line on the map that is at constant altitude. When you cross a contour line on the map, you are going up or down hill—you must use other evidence to determine which (for example, if you are going toward water, you are usually going down). On some maps, a small tick in the downhill direction tells you. The map always specifies the "contour interval", which is the difference in height from one contour line to the next. If contour lines are close together, the terrain is steep.

Control
A nylon marker hung at each feature on the course. It has three sides, divided diagonally between white and red (or orange) halves. A punch for marking your control card is attached to the control, or located nearby on a post. Sometimes a control is called a "bag."

Control card
A card that you carry with you to punch at each control Since each punch has a unique pattern, the control card is evidence that you have visited all of the controls.

Control code
Letters or numbers that uniquely identify each control on a course. The control code appears on the clue sheet and the control. Before punching yourcontrol card at the control, make sure that the same code appears on the control and the clue sheet for the feature.

Dog-leg
A control setting in which the orienteer is likely to use the same route leaving a control as approaching it. A dog-leg is a flaw in course design because it may give an approaching orienteer an unfair advantage if, by chance, he/she meets someone leaving the control.

Fight
An area shown on the map in dark green which is very difficult to get through. Bramble patches and forest areas with low branches or closely spaced trees are examples. Fight usually should be avoided, but because mappers treat fight differently, it is always wise to look at the conditions before deciding to avoid fight. Lighter green indicates "slow run."

Form line
A brown dashed line on the map which indicates a visible ridge or mound which is not high enough to be shown with the map's contour lines.

Knoll
A small hill. It should only designate features one contour or less in height, but the term is sometimes casually used to describe larger features. Depending on its size, it is shown on the map as a contour line loop or a brown dot.

Leg
The part of an orienteering course between two controls, or between the start and the first control, or the last control and the finish.

Night-O
Orienteering performed in the dark.  The standard controls are used but a reflector is usually added.  Participants need a flashlight or headlamp.  A whistle is also recommended since it is a little easier to get lost in the dark.

North
In orienteering, always magnetic north. In the Chicago area, magnetic and geographic north nearly coincide. In other parts of the country and the world, they may differ dramatically (20° or more). Orienteering maps always show magnetic north, either by being drawn with magnetic north at the top of the map, or by showing magnetic north meridian lines across the map.

Orienteering
Navigation through rough terrain using only a map and a compass. A map is essential; a compass very helpful. You can find your way without a compass, paying careful attention to the terrain and the map. Orienteers can run, or walk, or both—it is a sport of navigation, not necessarily navigation on the run.

Orienteering course
A group of features on a map that are to be visited, usually in a specified order (compare Score-O and Rogaine). A circle on the map identifies each feature, with the feature in the exact center of the circle. A feature must be on the map to be used on the course. The start is shown by a triangle, and the finish by a double circle. In a standard course in which features must be visited in order, straight lines are drawn to connect each feature to the next one to be visited.

Pace counting
Counting the number of paces you take to estimate the distance you travel. Paces usually are counted one for every left/right combination. You need to determine your standard pace for various conditions (at least one for walking and one for running) on a fixed course of known length. Because the map is flat, it takes more paces to cover the same map distance going up or down hill than on flat terrain.

Rankings
A system of ranking all competitive orienteers who are members of USOF. The system attempts to give credit for performance on the basis of comparisons of the competitor's finishing time for each day of competition with the finishing time of the fastest competitors. The system has recently been revised, but is still complicated. Rankings do not affect recreational orienteers.

Reentrant
A small valley, where the contour lines "re-enter" the hill. If you are standing at the bottom facing into a reentrant, the land slopes up in front of you and on both sides, and slopes down behind you. In a shallow reentrant, the slopes on both sides and ahead may be very gentle, sometimes difficult to see in wooded areas. A reentrant must appear on the map if it is used as a control. It appears as loop or hump in the contour lines.

Rogaine
A long score-O, usually held in a very large area. Often the map is a USGS map, rather than a standard orienteering map, although many recent rogaines have used maps which are similar to standard O maps. Rogaines must be run in teams, usually of two people, and often last up to 24 hours. The word ROGAINE is said to be an acronym for Rugged Outdoor Group Activity Involving Navigation and Endurance. The word may also be a consolidation of the supposed Australian inventors of the idea, something like Rob, Gail and Ned. It has nothing to do with hair.

Rootstock
The root base of a fallen tree. Because most woods have many fallen trees, only very large rootstocks generally are mapped. Mappers have different standards. On CAOC maps, a rootstock is mapped only if the mass of roots is as high as Rich Gaylord's shoulders (about 5 feet).

Ruin
The remains of a manmade structure, often little more than a stone foundation. Ruins usually are made of stone or concrete. Some ruins are more substantial portions of abandoned structures such as dams and other drainage devices or farm outbuildings. Ruins can be hard to find if they are overgrown.

Scale
The size of the map compared to the area which it represents. The usual orienteering map scale is 1:15,000, which means that one millimeter of map corresponds to 15,000 mm (15 meters) of terrain. Most compasses have a scale for measuring distances on the map. Other scales can be used: as the numbers get smaller, the distance on the map for each unit gets larger. A 1:7,500 map shows half as much terrain as a 1:15,000 map.

Score-O
A Score-O is an orienteering event in which the controls may be visited in any order, but time is limited. Controls may have different point values; greater points are assigned to controls that are more difficult to locate or that are greater distance from the start. The orienteer must decide how many controls can be visited within the set time limit. Penalty points are applied to those out for longer than the set time. Longer Score-Os are called Rogaines.

Ski-O
An orienteering event in which competitors navigate courses largely on cross country skis.

Sprint and Chase
The "Sprint-0 and Chase" is intended for advanced runners (Red, Green, and strong Orange levels).  Orienteers choosing the Sprint-0 and Chase will first complete a 3 to 5 km sprint-length course.  After all competitors have complete the Sprint-O, the Chase will begin.  The fastest orienteer in the Sprint-O will start the Chase first.  A runner who was 2 minutes, 45 seconds slower on the Sprint-O will start the Chase exactly 2 minutes, 45 seconds after the first runner.  An orienteer who was 14 minutes slower on the Sprint-O will start the Chase exactly 14 minutes after the first orienteer.  The Chase is also between 3 and 5 km in length so the total distance is approximately 7 km. As runners finish the Chase, they will immediately know their placing.  The first to finish will have the fastest time of the day.

Spur
A ridge or point of land projecting out into the lower terrain below. Standing at the tip of a spur, the land drops in front of you and on both sides, but is relatively flat behind you. On the map, reentrants and spurs can be difficult to distinguish.

String-O
String orienteering is a form of orienteering designed to be easier than usual for young children.  A continuous "string" (actually surveying tape) marks the route to each control.  Participants can follow the String through the entire course and thus will not get lost.  A simplified map is used; the route of the String and the location of the controls are marked on the map.