Identification of Optimal Colours for Maps from the Web

Abstract

Maps which are created on demand by combining geospatial data from different Web Map Services integrate conflicting portrayals and do not satisfy the requirements of effective cartographic communication. A significant improvement is achieved by selecting clearly distinguishable colours which are determined by solving an optimisation problem. Cartographic guidelines and user characteristics (e.g. colour vision impairment) can be incorporated into the optimisation model as constraints which guide the selection of colours.