An OTFOP navigation system is any technology that supplies navigation information derived from sources outside the competition boundaries. They include navigation beacons someone might erect outside a competition venue, or teammates radioing their fox bearings taken from outside the course to those in competition, and of course they include multi-billion dollar satellite systems such as GPS and GLONASS that provide satellite-based signals for precise geographical locating and progression tracking. IARU rules allow the use of satellite systems for navigation in ARDF.
Practical reasons to oppose OTFOP navigation as permitted under current IARU rules:
1. OTFOP systems are banned for any navigation purpose in orienteering; and the more ARDF diverges from the sport of orienteering, the less support and participation ARDF should rightly expect to receive from the orienteering community.
2. The inclusion of OTFOP technology adds cost to the equipment used by those participating in the sport, raising the cost barrier to newcomers’ participation in ARDF.
3. Having OTFOP users compete against those without is not fair play, but there is no distinction made in the rules allowing segregation of OTFOP navigation users from competitors relying solely on their own navigation skills.
Philosophical reasons to oppose OTFOP navigation as permitted under current IARU rules:
1. OTFOP navigation systems significantly diminish the need for some navigation skills that make ARDF unique from geocaching and similar satellite-based navigation sports.
2. Allowing OTFOP navigation opens the door to all forms of supplemental navigation technology that might be argued as no more detrimental to the sport: drone guidance, on-foot guidance by Google/Apple maps, etc.
3. Although fairness dictates that those who choose to utilize OTFOP technologies compete in a separate category from those who don’t, currently there is no effective way to influence the rules applying to Region 2 (much less inter-regionally) in order to correct that unfairness.