What is MAPS?
MAPS is an open, online, 5-hour, ICPC-style programming competition organized through Mount Allison University and hosted on Kattis. MAPS features an original problem set.
When is MAPS 2022?
MAPS 2022 takes place on Saturday, October 1, 2022, from 1:00 – 6:00pm Atlantic Daylight Time (ADT).
Who can compete?
Anyone, either individually (as a 1-person team) or as a member of a multi-person team. At least one member of each team must have a Kattis account in order to register the team. During the contest, any team member with a Kattis account can log in and submit solutions.
How do I register a team?
- Go to the dedicated contest site: maps22.kattis.com
- If you are not already logged into Kattis, click "Log in" in the top right and enter your credentials. NOTE: If you already have an Open Kattis account, use that account to log in and register for MAPS. Only create a new account if you do not have an Open Kattis account. (If you do create a new account, this account can then be used for both MAPS and Open Kattis.)
- Click on the button that says "Join the contest".
- You are now registered for MAPS. You should see a "team page" link. Clicking on this link will take you to page where you can change the team name (by default, it will be your Kattis name) and add more team members.
- You can access this team page at a later time by visiting the contest site and clicking on the button that says "View my team" (the button that formerly said "Join the contest"), or by clicking on "Standings" and then clicking on your team name.
How many people can be on a team?
The registration system allows several people per team. However, we recommend that teams be kept relatively small, i.e., a maximum of 3 people (since an ICPC team consists of 3 people).
What languages are allowed?
The allowed languages are C, C++, Java, Kotlin, Python 2, and Python 3. Note that not every problem is guaranteed to be solvable within its specified time limit in Python.
How many problems will there be? What is the difficulty level of MAPS?
The MAPS 2022 problem set consists of approximately 12 problems. These range in difficulty from easy(-ish) to quite challenging. In this sense, MAPS is comparable to the well-known North America Qualifier.
How does scoring work?
MAPS scoring is the same as standard ICPC scoring, including a 20-minute time penalty for wrong submissions (for problems that are ultimately solved). A fun way to understand the scoring rules is to solve the following Kattis problem:
What are the other rules?
Because MAPS is an open competition, most rules cannot be strictly enforced. However, we encourage teams to adhere to the relevant ICPC rules. In particular:
- Internet access should be limited to the contest site and standard language documentation.
- Access to other reference materials should be limited to a team reference document ("cheat sheet") of at most 25 pages.