3 Years of the GMU Permanent Orienteering Course Network – Education and Recreation in the Forest
It has been more than two years since GMU opened its Permanent Orienteering Course Network, located in a forested area near the University’s main campus. The facility is used by both GMU students during physical education classes and Tricity area residents.
The GMU Permanent Orienteering Course Network has now entered its third year. The project was initiated in 2023, with its official opening taking place with the participation of HM The Rector of GMU on 14 October.
The Permanent Orienteering Courses are currently used for educational, social, and recreational purposes. During the 2024/25 Academic Year, the proximity of the Tricity Landscape Park to the GMU main campus allowed for trial outdoor classes to be held for 2nd-year students of all GMU faculties as a way to diversify physical education classes by combining them with elements of navigation and outdoor orientation. Before getting outside, GMU students were given short introductory classes.
The orienteering facilities implemented by GMU, also for the local community and beyond, are used by individuals on foot and by bike for recreational purposes, as well as by children and young people from sports clubs for orienteering and running training. Moreover, the possibility of recording the routes of users through the control points located away from the frequented forest paths and trails of the Permanent Orienteering Course Network (POC Network ) using smartwatches increases the probability of the Network’s use.
Also notable is that through cooperation between GMU and Gdansk Tech in relation to the POC Network – two diploma dissertations have been written (one of which was defended in 2025), aimed at designing web and mobile applications enabling users to make more effective use of the facility’s potential. An additional module provides mobility support for people with disabilities in the form of a ‘virtual walk’ along a selected route.
We encourage you to make use of the Permanent Orienteering Courses for recreational purposes – enjoy so-called forest bathing and outdoor physical activity such as walks, any time of year. The Course is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year.
The project has led to cooperation between GMU and the Gdansk Forestry Agency (Nadleśnictwo Gdańsk). One example of community action and the promotion of forest education was a spring tree-planting event, during which the GMU academic community joined foresters to plant trees in a windthrow area near the settlement of Gołębiewo, where a tornado had passed the year before.
The Permanent Orienteering Course is also used effectively during sports and recreation events, including GMU Sports Day, and Exhibitions and poster sessions with map visualisations and 3D models of the terrain have been presented to a wider audience on several occasions, e.g., at the Tricity GIS-Day.
More information and helpful materials available for download, including maps with various base layers, proposed routes, and descriptions of the control points, can be found on the GMU Website. There are also information boards containing a large map and the positions of all control points in front of the entrance to the GMU Sports and Recreation Centre and at the entrances to the forest at the end of Grabowo Street and Demptowskiej Street.
