BOF Annual Mapping Awards 2024: Walsh Trophy Winner – Rudi Paul (STAG)

The Walsh Trophy is awarded annually to the best urban or sprint map drawn to ISSOM specification.

The Glasgow City Centre map is a very large urban map, covering around 3.5 square km of varied urban terrain in the centre of Glasgow. Though certain parts of the area had existing map, the entire map was surveyed and drawn from scratch in the winter and spring of 2024 by Rudi Paul.

It was first used for the Glasgow City Race in May 2024 to good reviews (and, equally
significantly for a sprint map, few complaints) and since for frequent sprint training and local events by STAG - a valuable resource for the club, especially due to its central location.

The area includes at least five distinct types of urban terrain, including the intricate campus of the University of Strathclyde, the city centre terrain of Merchant City, varied intricate housing estates, traditional Glasgow tenements and the parkland area of Glasgow Green. This range of terrain presented significant challenges for Rudi to ensure the map is consistent, legible and accurate across its entirety.

If the map is too large to study its entirety in detail, several areas stand out as particularly interesting from a mapping perspective. For example, Rottenrow Gardens in the University of Strathclyde, where it was a significant challenge to maintain minimum gaps between the many parallel walls and hedges. Or the Drygate area further east, with multiple running levels rising from high walls and canopies built into a steep slope – a challenge to map legibly while
communicating the important information for the runner. In the steep northern section,
particular care has been taken with showing the slopes without impacting the map legibility – both with areas of surprisingly complicated contour detail in Townhead, or in places on the Strathclyde Campus where as many as 10 contour levels can be found within a single
building.

Overall, the map strikes a good balance between legibility and detail, with a good level of
generalisation and significant attention to minimum gaps and areas to ensure that the map is easy to read at speed.

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Well done to Rudi on his award!

That concludes our series on all of our Club, Coach, Volunteer and Mapping Award Winners 2024. Congratulations to all of our award winners!