PHM-2305-colour Schemes and Graphs - 29thoct2024
PHM-2305-colour Schemes and Graphs - 29thoct2024
Color Schemes
Sources:
Elements of Cartography , Six edition:
PennState College of Earth and Mineral Science:
ITC, The Netherlands.
What is colour
• The perception of colour is a complex process involving a physical
stimulus (electromagnetic radiation), the physiological reaction of the
eye and psychological reaction of the brain to the signals sent by the
eye along the optic nerve to the brain.
• It is important to remember that the colours we perceive in fact exist
only in our brains.
• Newton’s classic experiment, in which he passed a
narrow beam of sunlight through a glass prism, to
separate the visible wavelengths and display the
spectrum
Introduction
• The Red-Green-Blue (RGB) definition of color is based
on the additive mixing principle of color and is directly
related to the way in which computer and television
screens function.
Explanation
• When we look at the result, our brain combines the
stimuli from the red, green and blue dots and enables
us to perceive all possible colors from the visible part
of the spectrum.
• During the combination, the three colors are added.
We see yellow when green dots are illuminated in
addition to red ones.
Explanation
• This principle is called the additive color scheme.
Figure below illustrates the additive colors caused by
activating red, green and blue dots on a monitor.
• When only red and green light is emitted, the result is
yellow. In the central area, there are equal amounts of
light emitted from all three dots, so we experience
white.
Comparison of the (a) additive and (b) subtractive colour schemes.
Explanation
• In the additive colour scheme, all visible colors can be
expressed as combinations of red, green and blue, and
can therefore be plotted in a three-dimensional space
with R, G and B each being one of the axes.
• The space is bounded by minimum and maximum
values for red, green and blue, thus defining what is
known as the colour cube.
• The Figure below the normalized colour cube; the
maximum value for each colour is set to 1.
The RGB cube. Note
the red, green and
blue corner points
Nature of Colour
• Colour is a perceptual phenomenon, product of our
mental processing of electromagnetic radiation
detected by our eyes.
• One important aspect of color is our response to
spectral colors of the visible spectrum.
• Another is the fact that we see reflected color,
resulting from selective absorption of visible radiation
by different features
Spectral color
• The visual sensation of light occurs because receptors
in our eyes are stimulated by electromagnetic
radiation of certain wavelength.
• The electromagnetic spectrum ranges from short-
wavelength gamma rays and X-rays to long-
wavelength radio waves used in the broad-casting
industry, (see figure below)
A portion of electromagnetic spectrum with wavelengths shown
in nanometers. Only a small portion of the entire spectrum is
visible
Spectral color
• Only wavelengths in a tiny portion of the spectrum
namely those with “visible” wavelengths ranging from
approximately 400 to 700 nm- stimulate the receptors
in our eyes.
• This tiny visible portion of the spectrum corresponds
with the sun’s peak radiation emission as our eyes are
fine-tuned to our energy source.
Spectral color
• When the sun or another source of illumination emits
the full range of visible wavelengths in suitable
portions, our brain interprets the electrical signals
from the receptor in our eyes as white light.
• Since Isaac Newton’s optics experiments in the 1670s,
we have known that white light can be separated into
a continuum of component wavelengths by refraction
through a prism.
• When this continuum enters our eyes, the signals
from our visual receptors are transformed by our
mind into the sensation of hue (blue, yellow, green,
red, and so on)
Spectral color
• The shorter wavelengths are seen as the violet-blues,
near the 400 nm end of the spectrum: the longer
wavelengths as the reds near the 700 nm end.
• The order of these “spectral” hues is that of the
rainbow, and is shown in the figure above.
• Pure spectral colors are not often seen except when
white light is reflected, but they provide most of the
basic names we use to identify hues (violet, blue,
green, yellow, orange, and red. )
• Note that their order is significant in cartography.
Reflected color
• The colors we see in the nature and in all fabricated
things, including maps, are rarely spectral hues but
instead are almost always made by combinations or
reflected wavelengths.
• This is because surfaces illuminated by white light
absorb differing proportions of some of the
wavelength and reflect the reminder.
• Graphs of spectral reflectance curves help us to
understand reflected color as figure below
Four spectral reflectance
curves:
A)A white surface
B)A “greenish blue” ink
C)A “red purple” ink
D)A dark grey surface
Reflected color
• For example, curve “A” could be from a white surface
such a typing or printing paper.
• From such a surface, sunlight reflectance is uniformly
high throughout the visible spectrum.
• Such wavelength by-wavelength surface reflectance
data are collected using an instrument called a
spectrophotometer.
• Curve ‘D’ might be measurement from a dark grey
printed area from which the reflectance is uniformly
low.
Reflected color
• Curve ‘B’ could be from a “greenish blue” inked area.
• From such an area, all wave-lengths except those in
the blue and green portions of the spectrum are
heavily absorbed.
• Curve “C” could be from a “red-purple” inked area,
since green and yellow are heavily absorbed.
• Ordinary surfaces such as paper partially covered by
ink, will reflect at least a small proportion of all visible
wavelengths, even if the ink is black
• The color we see comes from the wavelengths which
are reflected the most.
Types of color schemes
• Sequential,
• Diverging,
• Qualitative
Sequential
• Most popular color schemes used in thematic mapping.
• They are excellent for demonstrating the order of data
values
• They are effective on their own
• They are often designed with multiple harmonious hues,
• The multi-hued nature of these color schemes can make
it easier for viewers to discriminate between all data
classes on the map.
• They also often create more aesthetically-pleasing
visualizations.
Sequential color schemes
using color lightness
Example:
Choropleth map