Try the MapRun6 App!
With the right App your smartphone can become a 3-in-1 orienteering device – a map, a compass and a ‘black box’ that records your route, your time and the controls you visited.
If you wish the data can then be exported to Strava, Routegadget, and Winsplits for you to compare yourself to others and analyse your orienteering technique.
The MapRun6 App has emerged as the runaway leader in this field, so we have abandoned our other efforts and now only offer MapRun bundles.
It’s free for Android, Apple and Garmin
The App is free and available for both Android and Apple smartphones. Garmin also supports MapRun6 via the free App MapRunG. If you have a Garmin device check it here
It works with GPS
Load your App with a course and both the map and controls will appear on your smartphone screen. As you begin your run the App monitors your position via GPS without revealing it – unless you opt otherwise. As and when it detects that you are at a control it rewards you with a beep and the appropriate control circle will turn from purple to green.
When you have finished your run you can store the route you took and the time it took on your phone, or you can load the details to the MapRun website – and other sites too – for analysis.
The courses are easy (or hard)
Most of the courses on offer are all ‘Score’ courses. Points are scored by visiting controls – in any order – but lost by spending more than the allowed time. You decide which controls to visit and just how easy or hard you want to make the challenge.
Special mention: MapRun provides plenty of data to assist those wanting to learn orienteering skills or to teach them. The Wythenshawe Park Training Pack contains courses of increasingly difficulty plus supporting commentaries and Sport England videos.
Buy a bundle
All you need to do is buy the MapRun Bundle for your chosen park. This will cost £2.00 and you can buy it in the same way as a waterproof map or a pdf. It will be sent to you by email and contain
- A guide on how download the free App, and how to download your chosen Park/event
- A map in pdf format for you to print: most people find it easier to run and navigate using a paper map rather than the smaller smartphone screen
- The control descriptions
The Parks with MapRun courses
