A map is an information design object for which canonical colors for the most common elements are well established. For a CVD observer, it may be difficult to discriminate between such elements - for example, it may be hard to distinguish a red road from a green landscape on the basis of color alone. We address this problem through an adaptive color schema in which the conspicuity of elements in a map to the individual user is maximized. This paper outlines a method to perform adaptive color rendering of map information for users with color vision deficiencies. The palette selection method is based on a pseudo-color palette generation technique which constrains colors to those which lie on the boundary of a reference object color gamut. A user performs a color vision discrimination task, and based on the results of the test, a palette of colors is selected using the pseudo-color palette generation method. This ensures that the perceived difference between palette elements is high but which retains the canonical color of well-known elements as far as possible. We show examples of color palettes computed for a selection of normal and CVD observers, together with maps rendered using these palettes.

Date Published: 8 February 2015
PDF: 4 pages
Proc. SPIE 9395, Color Imaging XX: Displaying, Processing, Hardcopy, and Applications, 939515 (8 February 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2083411

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9395:
Color Imaging XX: Displaying, Processing, Hardcopy, and Applications
Reiner Eschbach; Gabriel G. Marcu; Alessandro Rizzi, Editor(s)