NEWS: At the ISMB/ECCB 2004 conference, ISCB hosted the third annual orienteering ice-breaker. Orienteering is a map navigation game for people of all ages and abilities. This year we held the event in beautiful and historic Kelvingrove Park. Participants were given a map, and had 30 minutes to find as many of the 20 controls as they could. Our orienteering game is an instance of the prize-collecting traveling salesman problem, which is well-studied in computer science theory.

Thanks are due to the St Andrew's Orienteering Club (Glasgow) for running this event, as well as to the conference volunteers.

Download the complete results as a word document here.

Join us for the ISMB/ECCB 2004 Orienteering Ice Breaker!

Saturday, 31 July 2004: 15:00 - 17:30

In this activity, you and your team will have one hour to find control locations in Glasgow using a map and (optionally) a compass. For the nerdly amongst you, this is the NP-complete Prize Collecting Traveling Salesman problem, which has a respectable and fascinating literature, as well as mostly untapped applications in bioinformatics. This is a fun activity for all, and you can approach it as a gentle walk in the park with your family, or a chance to compete against your colleagues. All ages welcome; under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

Things to bring: a compass (optional), walking or hiking shoes, appropriate outdoor gear for the weather.