Spatial Intelligence and Performance in Orienteering

Research Project, 2026

Orienteering requires athletes to quickly interpret the map, recognize the terrain and choose the right path. In the project, we investigate how such skills can be measured and trained with AI-powered tools: video-based tests, eye-tracking and geospatial analysis. We compare elite, club level and beginners as well as women and men to understand which strategies give the best results in different types of terrain. The results are both new knowledge about decision-making in orienteering and practical digital training exercises that can help orienteers develop their spatial intelligence. This research aims at strengthening orienteering as an elite sport and as a healthy, cognitively challenging leisure activity.