Enter your calibrated pace, pick your map scale, and instantly get terrain-adjusted paces per leg plus compass pace-scale tick spacings.
Enter the map distance you measured with your compass scale and choose terrain type.
Millimetres between tick marks on the tape fixed to your compass edge (current pace mode: running).
| Pace increment | Tick spacing (mm) | Ground dist (m) |
|---|
Pace counting is a distance-estimation technique used in foot orienteering to determine how far you have travelled along a compass bearing. By knowing the number of double paces (one count each time your right foot strikes the ground) you take over 100 metres, you can convert any measured map distance into a precise target count — so you know when to start actively searching for the control flag.
It is an intermediate-to-advanced skill, most useful on legs through featureless or dense terrain where map features alone give insufficient positional feedback mid-leg. Many elite orienteers run a background pace count on every leg as a cross-check against their map reading.
At 1:10,000, each millimetre on the map equals 10 metres on the ground; each centimetre equals 100 metres.
Terrain factors used in this calculator (derived from Wessex Orienteering Club's published training notes):
In practice, many legs combine terrain types. Apply the correction for the dominant section, or break the leg into two sub-legs at a catching feature.
Example: running pace 38 dp/100 m, map scale 1:10,000, 50-pace increment → (10,000 × 50) / (38 × 1,000) = 13.2 mm. (Source: DVOA pacing guide, verified.)
Find a measured 100-metre stretch of flat representative terrain. Walk or run it at your normal event pace, counting every time your right foot strikes the ground — that is one double pace. Repeat 2–3 times and average the results. Most adult runners fall between 35 and 65 double paces per 100 m. Calibrate on the same type of surface you typically race on; recalibrate after a few events to refine the number.
According to the IOF's International Specification for Orienteering Maps (ISOM 2017-2), the base scale for a foot orienteering map is 1:15,000 for long-distance events. Maps at 1:10,000 are used for middle-distance events and for younger or older age groups. Sprint maps use 1:4,000 or 1:5,000. Always check the scale printed on the corner of your race map — the correct tick spacing depends on it.
Your stride shortens in rough terrain, uphill, or when fatigued, so you take more paces than the flat calculation predicts. As a rule of thumb (Wessex OC training notes): add roughly 50% more paces for steep uphill or heather/bracken; 35% for rough brash-covered forest; 15% for light open forest. Experience will let you refine these for your own body and home terrain.
A compass pace scale is a graduated strip (adhesive label or tape) fixed to your compass edge with tick marks at specific millimetre intervals, so that measuring a leg distance on the map reads directly in double paces without mental arithmetic. To make one: calculate the tick spacing from the formula above, mark it with a ballpoint pen on adhesive mailing-label paper, and attach it to the relevant edge of your compass. Cover with clear tape to protect it from rain. The calculator's tick-spacing table gives you the exact spacings at 10 dp, 25 dp, 50 dp, and 100 dp increments.
Running lengthens your stride so you cover 100 m in fewer double paces than when walking. For a typical adult, running pace is 35–55 dp/100 m; walking pace is 55–70 dp/100 m. Calibrate both separately and use this calculator to pre-compute paces for whichever gait you plan for each leg.
Yes — many elite orienteers maintain a background pace count throughout races, using it primarily as a distance confirmation after attack points into controls, rather than as a primary navigation method. In featureless or very green (dense) terrain, it is particularly valuable. The technique is practised widely in British, Scandinavian, and Central European orienteering communities and taught by clubs including the Bay Area Orienteering Club, Wessex OC, and Delaware Valley OA.