Colours have an outstanding position among all the devices used for representation in cartography. It is an independent device and still a part of all the other elements in a map. Therefore colours as one of the most important domains of cartography demand detailed studying. Although there is a huge number of papers focusing on the theoretical basis and colour analysis in cartography, fast and useful tools for map creators are still missing.
Colours are a part of cartographic map language and they carry some meaning. Simultaneously, colours are used for creating hierarchy of the elements in a map by distinguishing the important from the unimportant. Furthermore, colours are a part of the whole design of a cartographic art.
Colours are used almost everywhere in cartography and an independent area of research is that of colour scales. These serve extensively for representation of various notions in cartography. We distinguish between two major types of colour scales: quantitative and qualitative colour scale. In the case of qualitative scale it is rather a colour palette or a colour scheme.
Many professionals and non-professionals in cartography create a lot of various maps every day with the use of certain representation methods for various elements. Some methods of topical cartography very often implement colour scales for the representation of a certain element in the map. And colour scales are often used incorrectly in maps. One of the frequent mistakes is the use of divergent scales for convergent values, lowering colour intensity or impossibility to distinguish the colours.
The aim of this bachelor’s thesis is to create colour scales according to the map styles in order to use the chosen colour scale easily without making any of the mistakes mentioned above. The users who may find the possibility of topical organization according to map styles useful are those who do not have adequate knowledge or graphic feeling but want to use semantically correct colours.
Bachelor thesis here for download, but only in czech language
Poster for download, but only in czech language
ANNOTATION
Colours represent the primary cartographic tool of map creation, the right choice of colours is, therefore, an essential prerequisite for quality cartographic production.
The aim of this bachelor thesis is to create colour schemes according to the visual style of maps. Using colour schemes proposed in this work user can avoid some common cartographic inaccuracies in the map creation.
Theoretical goals of this thesis include a detailed review of the literature dealing with the issue of colour in cartography and analysis of existing and freely available tools for creating colour schemes.
The main practical objective of this thesis is creating colour schemes, sorted by visual map style, and make them accessible through a simple online tool. Created colour schemes are provided via RGB and CMYK code. Selected colour schemes were verified through eye-tracking user testing.
