Google Earth results - Urban plotting for tomorrow
I have been playing around onscreen and came up with four potential UTDX tracks and six potential UTD tracks to scout out tomorrow. Here are two I am interested in. Since I have never been to the University of Calgary, it will be interesting to see how these pan out on the ground!
Potential UTD starts at the bottom and ends at the top. WHERE would you put your first article? The last article will be leather, at the end. This has a nice long veg start. The rules say only the first 25 m have to be veg...not a lot (but I have rarely seen that).
Now that I look at the above map, I see some other ideas. That fourth leg could keep going straight into a whole new area. Hmmm....one thing about doing this beforehand, is it prevents too much wandering when you really don't want to mess up a perfectly good track. But I could do some drive-bys before committing to one layout.
Below is one more potential UTDX that shows what I mean about parallel legs. It would start at the bottom. The third leg parallels the first leg. The joining leg must be 50 meters to separate them. I have also used a building so that they are definitely not creating a box to trap scent. This one is 625 meters with 6 turns. It is more evenly alternating veg and non-veg compared with the track above, so they might be considered equal in difficulty, even though the above track has 5 turns (but longer spans of non-veg).
As for articles, I would put the first on leg 3, the second after the road cross and of course, the third at the end. BUT, I would want to see how close that 2nd article would be to the turn. If it is too close - this would require some thought! Read your rules - can you put two articles on non-veg? Can the second one be at the edge of the parking lot after the n-v turn? And for that matter, what about two n-v turns?
That's right, this is a tricky business. The answers are: 10.10 (e) says AT LEAST ONE 90 degree turn shall occur on a non-veg surface. So there CAN be two. And 10.10 (c) says AT LEAST ONE article shall be left on a non-veg surface. So there CAN be two on n-v. Starting the dog again after an article on n-v can be difficult, so for article two to be at the edge of the first parking lot, in the fold of the curb, gives an easier time for picking up the track again. For me - article placement is so important!
I don't even know if I can park or have access to these areas. But there are others. What I like about these two track is that they are linear, meaning they keep going up and away and don't form any kind of box that can trap scent. If I have to plot a track that forms a box of some kind I look for natural barriers such as a building or row of trees to divide the areas and hopefully keep scent from spreading to create any confusion - which I believe can cause a dog to start doing that 'grid pattern' that we all cringe over when we see it.
I have 6 UTD possibles, and 4 UTDX possibles after playing with Google Earth. Tomorrow, I will see this place in real life and there are always surprises - good and bad. Stay tuned! My goal is to get there, scout it out, and lay by tracks by 2 PM. I'll lay the UTDX first, then the UTD. I will run the UTD at just over an hour. By then the UTDX should be about 1.5 hours old. This is when I read a book for awhile - not quite enough time to go to IKEA!
I get so excited about these things. I will let you know how it goes... and will be drawing my own maps and taking notes to compliment the Google Earth versions. Oh yeah - I have to figure out the long way around to get back to my car after laying each track too - or I create just another big BOX don't I? !!! It's great exercise, but always easier if you have a buddy who can pick you up at the end - which is sometimes essential for test plotting.
Potential UTD starts at the bottom and ends at the top. WHERE would you put your first article? The last article will be leather, at the end. This has a nice long veg start. The rules say only the first 25 m have to be veg...not a lot (but I have rarely seen that).
I would put the article after the second turn; although I would also consider putting it where the track emerges from the gap in the trees. It would depend on the paces (meters) to that point as it must be no less than 100 m from the start. This track has the minimum 3 turns, is approximately 1/3 non-veg, and does not have a lot of proximity to buildings to create confusion for a beginner's urban track. It is 337 meters, so meets the distance requirements though it could be a little longer. I tried some other configurations, but ended up with the dreaded box with two parallel legs.
This is a potential UTDX track. It is 635 meters and approximately have non-veg. Do you notice that it is the same track as above to start? But it carries on along a sidewalk, across a road and to another parking lot. It has the minimum number of turns (5). I could keep the articles in the same spots as above, though would also consider putting the second article after the road cross depending on the amount of veg there for the dog to pick up the track again (and also, looking at the potential for it to be undisturbed during aging).
Below is one more potential UTDX that shows what I mean about parallel legs. It would start at the bottom. The third leg parallels the first leg. The joining leg must be 50 meters to separate them. I have also used a building so that they are definitely not creating a box to trap scent. This one is 625 meters with 6 turns. It is more evenly alternating veg and non-veg compared with the track above, so they might be considered equal in difficulty, even though the above track has 5 turns (but longer spans of non-veg).
As for articles, I would put the first on leg 3, the second after the road cross and of course, the third at the end. BUT, I would want to see how close that 2nd article would be to the turn. If it is too close - this would require some thought! Read your rules - can you put two articles on non-veg? Can the second one be at the edge of the parking lot after the n-v turn? And for that matter, what about two n-v turns?
I don't even know if I can park or have access to these areas. But there are others. What I like about these two track is that they are linear, meaning they keep going up and away and don't form any kind of box that can trap scent. If I have to plot a track that forms a box of some kind I look for natural barriers such as a building or row of trees to divide the areas and hopefully keep scent from spreading to create any confusion - which I believe can cause a dog to start doing that 'grid pattern' that we all cringe over when we see it.
I have 6 UTD possibles, and 4 UTDX possibles after playing with Google Earth. Tomorrow, I will see this place in real life and there are always surprises - good and bad. Stay tuned! My goal is to get there, scout it out, and lay by tracks by 2 PM. I'll lay the UTDX first, then the UTD. I will run the UTD at just over an hour. By then the UTDX should be about 1.5 hours old. This is when I read a book for awhile - not quite enough time to go to IKEA!
I get so excited about these things. I will let you know how it goes... and will be drawing my own maps and taking notes to compliment the Google Earth versions. Oh yeah - I have to figure out the long way around to get back to my car after laying each track too - or I create just another big BOX don't I? !!! It's great exercise, but always easier if you have a buddy who can pick you up at the end - which is sometimes essential for test plotting.
Category Article tracking maps, urban tracking, UTDX training
