Courses in IOF XML Format

[Peter Effeney]

Can I use a course that I have set in OCAD, or PurplePen, or Condes (or other Orienteering course setting systems)?

You can convert IOF XML to KML using a tool at O-utils.

I’m actually trying to discourage people setting their courses based on an Orienteering Map - that is using OCAD, PurplePen etc … because:
- See  http://maprunners.weebly.com/accurate-control-latlng.html
-  Older versions to the App allowed direct importing of the IOF XML file - but I no longer support that
- I have had too many cases where people blindly export a course in IOF XML and not check their controls on a satellite image to see where they actually are… and then are disappointed by controls not punching reliably
- Moving a control on an Orienteering Map by just 1mm, moves the point on the ground by 10metres (at 1:10,000). This is enough to upset  GPS-based punching (with a 15m tolerance).
- Zooming in further on an Orienteering Map to try to be more accurate with control placement, only goes so far… as no more detail is revealed as you zoom in (unlike on a satellite image).
- For sprint maps with dense features, IOF Mapping rules require that symbols be separated by certain distances, therefore mappers may be required to deliberately place features at Lat/Lng’s that they know are not accurate.
 - So if you are wanting to use a course that has been set based on an Orienteering Map, export it, convert it to KML, and check and fine-tune control locations in Google Earth (or similar). Otherwise use high-definition imagery as a background layer in OCAD to give more details of  location, or use Lidar layers to help with teh accuracy of control locations.
- Alternatively, you could increase the punching tolerance in MapRunF to allow for less precise control locations.
- My guidance is that if you can see the feature you are using as the control location in Google Satellite imagery and can drop a pin directly on that feature, the control will be within 3m of its real Lat/Lng (Satellite images aren’t perfectly aligned either). With a 15m standard punching tolerance in MapRunF, this will give reliable results.
 

[GFazekas]

We are using these tools in different countries, having many coordinate systems.

Is there any default system i.e. UTM to be used when we try to convert the IOF xml to KML?

How does the tool recognize if the IOF XML is georeferenced? Should it have a tag describing it?

If we try it with an XML source that is not georeferenced, the kmz must be georeferenced. In which system?

Thank you so much!

[Peter Effeney]

Here is my understanding of coordinate systems ... a complex area, and someone else might be able to add to this discussion.

MapRun is based on the "Internet" mapping system of Google/Microsoft etc.

Locations are expressed simply as Latitude and Longitudes without reference to any specific coordinate reference system.

If you look into a KMZ file (Map) or a KML file (Course) or a GPX file (Track) you will simply see Lats and Lngs. (To look at a KMZ file you need to use one the usual unZIP tools to un-zip it).

"Internet Maps" use a Mercator projection based on the World Geodetic System (WGS) 1984 geographic coordinate system (datum).
 
If you are doing conversions in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS), like QGIS, then the system you need to convert to is: EPSG:4326 or "Google Mercator"

GPS systems in Android and Apple phones provide the users location in Latitude and Longitude.  Garmin GPS's and GPS watches all use Latitude and Longitude.

IOF XML version 2.0.3 exports control locations as:
- x/y coordinates on the map used to set the course, and
- if the map is Geo-referenced and you are using a version of OCAD that supports geo-referencing (or other system), it also includes coordinates in whatever coordinate system you have set in OCAD.

Sample contents of files are provided at: http://maprunners.weebly.com/uploads/6/8/6/6/6866500/technical_overview_-_extract_-_file_formats_v1.pdf

IOF XML version 3 exports control locations in Lat/Lng.

Converting IOF XML to KML

You can export a course in IOF XML v2.0.3 and use O-utils to convert the control locations to Lat/Lng in a set of KML files (one course per file), provided that:
- the IOF XML file has coordinates in it (see above), and
- the coordinate system is UTM / WGS 84

Otherwise, if the IOF XML v2.0.3 file only has control locations x,y coordinates on the map, AND, you have a KMZ version of that map (with exactly the same dimensions), then there is another function at O-utils to use the combination of the KMZ file and the IOF XML file to determine the Lat/Lng of the controls.

Otherwise, some versions of OCAD can export a KML file directly, or can export a GPX file which can be opened in Google Earth and then saved as a KML file.

In conclusion, if you have location data in a KMZ (map), KML (course), GPX (track), the locations will be in Lat/Lng, they will apply anywhere on Earth, and will have no explicit coordinate system specified (there are no options).

Peter

[Condes]

In order to transfer courses from Condes to MapRun, you can use the KML export from Condes.  It is availalble as an option under Export / Export Courses to GPS.

A pre-requisite for this export is that a geo-referenced map is used when planning the courses.