FINLAND
countries - history of o-mapping
Suggestions, amendments warmly welcome: László Zentai - editor
countries - history of o-mapping
Suggestions, amendments warmly welcome: László Zentai - editor
The first ski-orienteering competition in Finland was held in Helsinki on March 13, 1904. There were many ski-O competitions held in the first decade of the 20th century, but during 1910-20 they were arranged less often. The first orienteering competition in Finland was held in Helsinki on November 4, 1923. (Map samples.)
In the first decades of Finnish orienteering, Russian topographic maps of 1:21 000 or 1:42 000 were used. In 1947 the National Board of Surveying started to make base maps in scale 1:20 000, which was internationally considered the best orienteering map until 1960´s. In 1960´s orienteering maps were made by using aerial photos for the areas, that were not included in base map at the time. Base maps with different kinds of modifications have been used for orienteering since 1960´s.
Orienteering spread quickly and caused a demand for internationally standardised maps. A proposal from Finland resulted in founding the Map Committee of International Orienteering Federation in 1961. IOF´s Map Committee made specifications for standardising the symbols and layout of orienteering maps. In 1969 they were used for the first time in World Championships in Sweden. In Finland, special maps for orienteering purposes were first made in the beginning of 1970´s.
Nowadays 350-400 orienteering maps and about 30 ski-orienteering maps are made in Finland every year. The total area of these maps covers 2100-2300 km2, and the amount of maps printed exceeds 1 million. Over 1 million euros is used for map making annually. In 2000, there were 362 maps printed in scale 1:10 000 and only 28 maps in 1:15 000. 63 teaching maps with scales bigger than 1:10 000 were printed.
by Jukka Liikari, 2001