PFO uses a small toolkit of orienteering-specific software and online services to run events. This page is a quick reference for committee members and event volunteers.
Course planning
Purple Pen — free Windows / Mac course-planning software. Most PFO planners use this to draw courses on the map, generate control descriptions, and produce print files.
Condes — commercial alternative used by some larger event planners. Stronger for relays and complex multi-day events.
OCAD — commercial alternative used by a few planners of very large events.
Entries
SI Entries (sientries.co.uk) — our default entry platform. Every PFO event with online entries uses SI Entries. Committee members with admin access can amend entries, generate the start list, and download the entrants file.
Alternative Entry Systems are used by some other clubs. You can access any of these to find events that are available. Some clubs may use other systems.
Timing on the day
SI Timing (sportident.com) — the SportIdent dibber-and-station electronic timing system used at most British orienteering events. The software runs on a laptop at registration / download. Most participants have their own SI-Card known as a ‘dibber’ but newcomers can also hire one on the day from clubs for a small fee. Older dibbers require the SI-Card to be inserted into the SI-Control box, but newer owns are contactless so just need to be wafted over the SI-Control to register.
EMIT — This system is used by a few UK clubs and uses different style of timing card. If you enter an event where EMIT timing is used then you would need to also hire a timing card. The software runs on a laptop at registration / download.
Map drawing
OCAD — the industry-standard professional orienteering mapping software. Commercial.
OpenOrienteeringMapper (OOMap, OOM) — free open-source alternative.
OpenOrienteeringMap — generate quick orienteering-style maps from OpenStreetMap data, useful for Street-O courses where a full survey isn’t needed.
Sharing routes and results
RouteGadget — our public RouteGadget instance where competitors can upload their GPS tracks after an event and compare routes against each other. Brilliant for learning.
Winsplits — Swedish results-and-splits service used at higher-level events. PFO uploads regional+ events here.
Anytime / virtual orienteering
MapRun — phone-app virtual orienteering. PFO has a number of MapRun courses set up; see the MapRun page for the list.