Nopesport

Hans Steinegger in memoriam

1948-2004 We have received the sad and shocking message that our Friend and
colleague Hans Steinegger has died in a heart attack.

A family and a partner in life has lost a dear one, the world of orienteering
has lost a person that through his work has made fundamental impact.
Hans Steinegger was an enthusiast. His life-project, the creation of the
OCAD software for mapping, started as something of a hobby and ended up in a
business that stretched out world-wide, and far beyond the scenes of the
orienteering sport. He was an extremely gifted designer and programmer who
saw possibilities and realised them.

The quality of his program surprised
even the largest providers of professional cartographic systems, and the OCAD software came to be used in a variety of organisations working with
computerised cartography.
But Hans had his roots in the orienteering sport and its cartography, and kept this focus while developing OCAD. The possibilities and extraordinary quality of OCAD, paired with a pricing that made it affordable for clubs and individual map-makers, played a fundamental role in the process of revolutionising the drawing and production of orienteering maps with the use of computers. OCAD filled a gap where traditional professional systems failed. Also, Hans understood that besides quality and ease-of-use a key to success was to make OCAD affordable, in fact he even decided to give away a version for free, and in this way Hans helped attracting new generations of map makers to the art of orienteering mapping.

Many of us have worked close to Hans, while others got to know him through
using his software. He was a silent man with very clear ideas. He had a
bright mind that impressed, and made people listen. When Hans lectured at
IOF mapping seminars or elsewhere, he always had the full attention of his
audience, because everyone knew that what he was going to say was important
and would make impact, whether it was news about OCAD, ideas or comments to
IOF mapping specifications, or just his professional opinion in general
orienteering issues.

Hans is missed by a world of orienteers, mappers, friends, and colleagues. We are thankful for what he did for us and for our beloved sport, and that we had the pleasure of knowing and working with him. We can only hope that his colleagues in Baar has the strength to continue his work, developing and supporting the hobby project of a silent Swiss man that grew into a life mission, spread all over the world and made fundamental impact on the orienteering sport.
This day our thoughts and sympathies are with Hans Steineggers family and
dear ones.

Flemming Norgaard
Chairman IOF Map Committee
1994-1996 BjöPersson
Chairman IOF Map Committee
1996-2000
Andreas Dresen
Chairman IOF Map Committee
2000-2002
Lálóntaì
Chairman IOF Map Commission
2002-