Overlay map color schemes

[Jim]

How about changing the brown to purple in Canada too? There may be some equivalent of usatr or usanp there eventually. Yakra was working on cannss at one point.

That would be my preference.  I think I'll take care of that with tonight's site update.

Any other systems that fit in at that level that should switch for consistency?

[vdeane]

I believe the other places that use brown for Tier 4 are in the Americas, so Mexico, Central America, and South America (although not uniformly).

[Jim]

Thanks.  I'm going to leave it to the maintainers of the routes in the other countries to decide if they'd like to change.

[Jim]

I'm actually not super happy with the untraveled TMpurple.  When zoomed in it's easy enough to distinguish traveled from untraveled but zoomed out it's harder to tell.

[vdeane]

I'm actually not super happy with the untraveled TMpurple.  When zoomed in it's easy enough to distinguish traveled from untraveled but zoomed out it's harder to tell.

I think that might be the nature of Tier 4 systems since they tend to be denser.  I've noticed that the unclinched colors on those tend to need to be lighter than the colors for less dense systems because the overlaps at the nodes cluster together and make the whole thing darker when zoomed out far enough, making the balance between "light enough that it doesn't overwhelm the clinched stuff" and "dark enough to be readily visible" much harder to achieve.

[LilianaUwU]

Those unclinched colors are way too visible, most notably the purple one.

[vdeane]

Those unclinched colors are way too visible, most notably the purple one.

Some of us like being able to view both clinched and unclinched at the same time, though.  IIRC the purple is similar to what the brown used to be (at least the updated one, you may need to do a hard reload if you have the original, which I agree had an unclinched color that was too dark).

[Highway63]

I am not really on board with the purple, especially since we have a magenta in there. Maybe flip the color scheme so purple is the parks (used MUCH less often) and brown is retained for state highways/historic routes?

[vdeane]

I am not really on board with the purple, especially since we have a magenta in there. Maybe flip the color scheme so purple is the parks (used MUCH less often) and brown is retained for state highways/historic routes?

Brown is used for parks/historic both on signage and internationally, though.  I don't think it looks that bad; it still contrasts against the other purple (doesn't really look very magenta to me), which isn't used too often either (unless you're in a state with a gazillion alt/bus/etc. US routes, I guess).

[cenlaroads]

Just my two cents, the increased visibility of the un-clinched purple is a plus for me.  At first I didn't like the new color for state routes, but it makes it easier to find small undriven routes and segments that I might otherwise overlook.

[CoreySamson]

I am also a fan of the new purple, though I would not be upset if brown returned. I think my favorite part about it is how it distinguishes state highways from national park highways and historic routes, as well as how it brings the US's color scheme more in line with some other countries.

[webny99]

Purple is a great choice, but the traveled purple doesn't contrast all that well with traveled magenta. Untraveled seems to contrast better. What do you think about making the traveled purple color a little darker?

I am not really on board with the purple, especially since we have a magenta in there. Maybe flip the color scheme so purple is the parks (used MUCH less often) and brown is retained for state highways/historic routes?

I agree with both of these suggestions. I think the former brown used for State Highways provided a much sharper contrast, both against the blank/white background areas and next to the other colors. I have nothing against purple conceptually, but if it's here to stay I would definitely support darkening the clinched purple.

[mapcat]

Make sure you're looking at the current version. Jim changed it to a darker purple a few days later, and the contrast with magenta is much better now IMO. If you're not sure, look at the green (the one used for usaib, which also changed) and if it looks familiar, clear your cache and load a map again.

[LilianaUwU]

In regards to Québec, it's definitely much better colorwise. Not sure I agree with the Trans-Canada Highway being above provincial highways considering how the TCH is de-emphasized in Québec, though.