articleThe Cartographic JournalJun 1, 2003Closed access

ColorBrewer.org: An Online Tool for Selecting Colour Schemes for Maps

MHMark HarrowerCACynthia A. Brewer

University of Wisconsin–Madison · Institute of Geography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences

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Abstract

Choosing effective colour schemes for thematic maps is surprisingly difficult. ColorBrewer is an online tool designed to take some of the guesswork out of this process by helping users select appropriate colour schemes for their specific mapping needs by considering: the number of data classes; the nature of their data (matched with sequential, diverging and qualitative schemes); and the end-use environment for the map (e.g., CRT, LCD, printed, projected, photocopied). ColorBrewer contains 'learn more' tutorials to help guide users, prompts them to test-drive colour schemes as both map and legend, and provides output in five colour specification systems.

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Topics & keywords

Topics
Keywords
  • Computer science
  • Thematic map
  • Process (computing)
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Computer vision
  • Computer graphics (images)
  • Human–computer interaction
  • Data mining
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