5 replies to this topic

[klacefield]

I am working on a project where we are creating a countywide run book (detailed street map with address labels, hydrants, building outlines, contours, etc.) for all 41 fire agencies within the county, and creating a consensus among such a large group is impossible. One of the sticking points is the colors used within the maps. Does anyone know where I might be able to find color schemes which work well for night time viewing and specifically viewing at night while using a red light (as they use within their rigs)?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kevin Lacefield, GIS Programmer Analyst
County of Sonoma
Information Systems Department - GIS Central

[erik]

Have you looked at ColorBrewer?

http://www.personal....ewer_intro.html

The only thing I can think of is to try looking at a lot of palettes in the actual lighting conditions and also bring a color blind person to double check things.

erik

[Sky Schemer]

Other sources to consider:

Color scheme generator. It's geared more at Web site design and is RGB only, but it might help you get close to a working color set.

Color Index by Jim Krause. It's a small book so it will test your eyesight but he shows color combinations with CMYK values from several color palettes (natural tones, bright colors, etc.). And it's cheap. It is not, however, a color print accuracy guide: it's an idea book, and a pretty useful one at that.

[David T]

Oy. I feel your pain. We are going through this process right now in San Diego County. I didn't come into it until late in the game, so I didn't get the chance to have any input into the symbolization used.

I will check with my analyst that is our contact point to the San Diego County group that is leading the charge on this. She may be aware of a standard that they agreed on. It's not coming to me at the moment, but I believe there was some standard symbolize that everyone agreed they would go with. It wasn't an in-house developed standard - it was some sort of national standard.

It's also late, and I've just spent the last two days reviewing contracts. So, I may have no idea what I'm talking about But I will ask tomorrow.

[David T]

As a follow up, I did some checking today. In Northern San Diego County, we are working on a Fire Run Book. The symbology is getting pretty developed, but I don't believe it's complete yet.

I am aware of the point symbols having been developed. They are not finalized as of yet. And, although I am aware that the polygons are being worked on, I don't have any examples to show you yet.

What is available is PDF legend of the point symbols. I need to obtain permission from the developer to release it to you (or the site). Once I have that, I will pass along the info.

[Dennis McClendon]

Take a look at Army Map Service products, many of which are marked "red-light readable."