Oliver O'Brien awarded prestigious mapping trophy

Congratulations to Oliver O’Brien who has been awarded British Orienteering’s Bonington Trophy for the best contribution to mapping. The award was announced at British Orienteering’s AGM on Friday 29 March.

Ollie’s involvement with maps and mapping reaches far beyond the limits that are normally found in an orienteering mapper.

• He has created the 6km² City of London map over the last five years, one of the most popular and highly-used orienteering maps in the UK.
• His on-line event map has become a key directory for orienteers across the country to find events.
• His Open Orienteering Map tool has helped to grow the sport by making it substantially easier and quicker to generate basic maps.

The trophy was donated to British Orienteering by its honorary President, Sir Chris Bonington, the world famous mountaineer. It consists of a piece of rock collected from the summit of Mount Everest on Chris’s 1985 expedition, mounted on a wooden plinth.

Ollie’s City of London map was also highly commended in the Walsh Trophy for 2012. This trophy is awarded for the best urban or sprint map drawn to ISSOM specification.