Colors and map symbols

The colors on the orienteering map

Here you see an aerial photo and an orienteering map of the same area. By dragging the slider, you can see that the map has slightly different colors than the aerial photo.

The map has different colours than what you see in the terrain. Terrain features are shown using map symbols in different colours. The symbols can represent an object, such as a boulder, path or building, or an area, such as dense forest, marsh or field.

Try to learn what the colors mean by heart

An orienteering map has six different colours. Click the colour buttons to see what they represent.

Black is hard Blue is wet Yellow is open area White is normal forest Green is dense forest Brown is contour lines or asphalt

The map’s many colors

These maps show the same area, but the individual colours have been isolated. The final map is how a real orienteering map should look.

Map symbols

The map symbols show the big and important details in the terrain. There are often many small details that are not shown on the map. Things that move, such as cars, people and animals, are also not shown.

Click on the map symbols

Comparison of maps

Can you solve these three tasks?

1. Which five details are missing on map 2?

ShowHide answer

A stream, a building, a path, a knoll and a boulder.

3. Here is a schoolyard map. Which of the four maps A, B, C or D is identical to the reference map?

ShowHide answer

Map C is identical.

5. Which five details have been changed on map 2?

ShowHide answer