Updated 2025:
These exercises involve matching map symbols to control description symbols and interpreting rotated maps. A new Achievements feature was added in 2025.
This link goes to the initial tutorial exercise. From there, you can find other exercises in the Map Symbol Matching section of the menu (top-left of the exercise page):
- If the exercises stop working after updating from an old version:
- First try force refreshing the page (Ctrl+F5 on Windows / Linux or Command+Shift+R on Mac) or manually clearing your browser cache.
- If that does not work, use this link to clear the cache and local storage. Only do this as a last resort because it will clear your achievements and settings, and make the exercises slower to load initially.
- Will not work on old browsers (e.g. IE 11) or old / low spec. hardware (3D model will be missing or black).
- From 2025 additional older devices that previously worked are no longer supported due to essential software updates.
The following interactive map symbol quizzes will help improve your knowledge of the IOF map symbols by asking you to match the symbols with the corresponding text.
Each time you play, 8 symbols are picked at random from your chosen group so you have to play several times to see all the symbols.
These exercises are quite old, so are hard to use on mobiles with small screens but they do have limited touchscreen compatibility.
- Map Symbol Quiz - Land forms
- Map Symbol Quiz - Rock and boulders
- Map Symbol Quiz - Water and marsh
- Map Symbol Quiz - Vegetation
- Map Symbol Quiz - Man-made features
- Map Symbol Quiz - Overprinting symbols
Too easy? Then try these which pick symbols at random across all of the above groups:
As your skills improve, you can alter the time limit on the exercises to make them more challenging.
A comprehensive reference guide to map symbols including examples is available at: https://orienteering.sport/iof/mapping/