Overlay map color schemes

[Jim]

Related to the multiple purposes for brown routes in the US, it's easy enough to add more builtin colors.  Brown is a natural for things like historic and park systems.  It would be a highly visible but I think harmless change to make the state systems some new color.  I agree with the comment upthread that the lightsalmon's not good.

[vdeane]

I went ahead and used GIMP to fake some new colors.  Orange and black are attached.  Not really a fan of the black to be honest.  I also tested a darker purple, but not only was it ugly, it had poor contrast with the existing "magenta" (really doesn't look magenta to me) used for Auxiliary US Routes.  A lighter pink would probably be close enough to light salmon to not bother with trying.

Speaking of light salmon, it seems like it fades into the background a lot more than the gold that is used for Tier 5 systems.  Shouldn't higher tier systems, in general, stand out more than lower tier ones?  If we decide the orange is decent, maybe it would be a good candidate to replace light salmon.

[vdeane]

And here is another test I did, with a dark green.  I also attached a couple other spots showing how it contrasts with the light green used for business interstates and teal used for usaif, usasf, and usanyp.  Green is also associated with parks, so this might be a less disruptive option for usaush, usanp, and a potential byways system.

[Duke87]

I like dark green for things like usanp and usaush. Would prefer to not alter any longstanding colors (e.g. leave state routes brown).

[Jim]

The custom color syntax didn't get brought over with the new code for showroute and mapview.  I can add it back.

https://github.com/TravelMapping/Web/issues/577

This functionality is now restored for mapview and showroute on the main server.  (anyone want to go through and split off this discussion of colors to its own thread?)

[Duke87]

Perhaps a bigger problem is that brown is also the state highway color in the US and so it's harder to filter out when looking at maps than it is in, say Europe, where brown is only used for tourist routes.

Perhaps a bigger problem is that brown is also the state highway color in the US and so it's harder to filter out when looking at maps than it is in, say Europe, where brown is only used for tourist routes.

I'd be quite open to throwing in another color for primary state routes so that historic/tourist routes could be their own thing. I don't think orange, purple, or black are used right now.

I'd be quite open to throwing in another color for primary state routes so that historic/tourist routes could be their own thing. I don't think orange, purple, or black are used right now.

Eh, they've been brown for a long time now, so it would be jarring to change.  That said, gray/black (formerly used for borders, but I don't think there are plans to bring back the CHM-style maps) is available, provided it's not be too ugly... I don't really like the "plain" view in Mapview, but maybe it wouldn't be so bad on a multi-system display.  Purple is (or at least similar to) the US Auxiliary Routes system color, and orange is probably close to the gold used for secondary systems.  Green is also around... currently used only for interstate business routes.  Anyone remember the syntax for custom colors?

There's also visibility to work out... the light salmon color used outside of North America really does not stand out against the map, especially for untraveled routes, but it might be the best option for balancing contrast against other systems and aesthetics if we want brown reserved for historic and scenic routes.

[vdeane]

FYI, if anyone is curious how this looks in the "real world" (feel free to sub in your own username): https://travelmapping.net/user/mapview.php?units=miles&u=vdeane&v&colors=usanp:rgb(61,94,77):rgb(24,132,70);usaush:rgb(61,94,77):rgb(24,132,70)

EDIT: I was playing around with the colors some more, and it looks like the purple used for the Auxiliary US Routes and the gold used for secondary systems aren't actually defined in that color list for some reason; they're not quite a match for magenta or yellow.

I like dark green for things like usanp and usaush. Would prefer to not alter any longstanding colors (e.g. leave state routes brown).

And also cannss, whenever it moves to preview.

[mapcat]

My preference would be to use brown in North America only for National Park and other tourist routes (plus Historic US, if those are kept around). I've never liked it for the state and provincial systems. As for the other suggestions, I'm not a fan of the orange or dark green (or light salmon). Jim posted black, but that's too dark. However, to my eyes dark grey works really well:

https://travelmapping.net/user/mapview.php?units=miles&u=mapcat&v&colors=usaky:rgb(75,75,75):rgb(75,75,75)

I tested it centered on Benton, KY, to show most of the colors (all except yellow) currently in use in the US (zoom out to see usanp brown in Land Between the Lakes, usaib green in Paducah and usakyp teal in Mayfield). Anything lower than (50,50,50) seems too dark to me, and over (100,100,100) seems too light, but there's some room to play with it. When you zoom out to see more of the state, it doesn't overpower the other colors, and usai blue and usaus red still look more important.

[michih]

I have merged the topics because there was some interesting discussion in 2016 - same users like now - we might consider

[michih]

However, to my eyes dark grey works really well:

https://travelmapping.net/user/mapview.php?units=miles&u=mapcat&v&colors=usaky:rgb(75,75,75):rgb(75,75,75)

Looks good in combination with blue and red.

[si404]

 That grey is very fetching.

[bejacob]

I could get behind that gray color for state routes. I do like the idea or separating the state routes from usanp. It would be easier to change just usanp to gray, but I agree that brown actually makes more sense for National Park routes.

[vdeane]

I'm not a huge fan of the gray.  However, it's definitely better than full black, at least.  How much it seems to crowd the other colors seems to depend on zoom - I feel like I can see the interstates, US routes, etc. better in the existing color when viewing the whole of NY, for example.

One idea I don't think we've considered is taking a page from Australia and using gold for the primary state routes and light salmon for the secondary systems, with usanp, usaush, and usatxre retaining brown.  Here is what it looks like.

Personally, my top choice remains using the dark green for usanp, usaush, and usatxre with brown retained for state routes, but making the display more like Australia as detailed above would be my second choice.  In any case, a large-scale change should also have coordination with the systems in development in Mexico and elsewhere that use the US/Canada color scheme, and perhaps also a revisit of how things are handled elsewhere in the world (especially as Europe and Australia are basically opposites for gold/light salmon usage).

[michih]

perhaps also a revisit of how things are handled elsewhere in the world (especially as Europe and Australia are basically opposites for gold/light salmon usage).

I think Europe is fine. No need to change anything.

[yakra]

IMO just about any color scheme we can come up with doesn't work well against the OSM background; it's just the nature of the beast. When I look at mapview I'll usually change to ESRI WorldTopo; I find it easier on the eyes.