Orienteering

Orienteering is a group of sports in which participants use a map and compass to navigate from point to point in unfamiliar terrain as quickly as possible. The sport originated from military land-navigation training in the late 19th century and has since evolved into several competitive forms in which participants race against the clock and one another while finding checkpoints. Variants include automobile, underwater, mountain bike, ski and trail orienteering, and the most common form is foot orienteering, also known as FootO. In formal foot-orienteering competitions, participants are given a specially prepared orienteering map, usually topographical, which they use to locate control points. Orienteering is part of the World Games and the World Police and Fire Games.