[Dhis2-users] GIS best practice choice of colours
Hi I am no expert here, but I was talking last week with someone who had just been on a GIS course. She made the interesting observation that when you are displaying numerical data as shaded regions on a map, you should not mix primary colours in the same gradated scale because what you end up with is sort of rubic cube kaleidoscope of colour rather than a clear gradation of values. If that is good advice then I think our demo site could be improved as presently it seems like a good example of bad practice, where we have mixed red, green and blue with joyful and cheerful abandon :-) I had a go to change the Diarrhoea map on the dashboard at http://apps.dhis2.org/dev/dhis-web-dashboard-integration/index.action and I think it is true that it conveys the data better than the extreme multi-coloured ones around it. Even if the distribution of data between bands is not so interesting. Anyone agree or disagree? (the data will only be there for a short while longer) If there is a best practice to be had here regarding colour selection I guess we should promote it, particularly with default offerings so that people have to be quite deliberate in order to go astray. Bob ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
Re: [Dhis2-users] GIS best practice choice of colours
http://colorbrewer2.org/ On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 4:42 PM, Jan Henrik Øverland janhenrik.overl...@gmail.com wrote: Others will have to comment on this, but what we should do anyway is to add more colours to the palette to allow for a combination of the two - fixed class breaks (predefined legend set) and that nice colour/value gradation Bob mentioned. On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 4:27 PM, Bob Jolliffe bobjolli...@gmail.comwrote: Hi I am no expert here, but I was talking last week with someone who had just been on a GIS course. She made the interesting observation that when you are displaying numerical data as shaded regions on a map, you should not mix primary colours in the same gradated scale because what you end up with is sort of rubic cube kaleidoscope of colour rather than a clear gradation of values. If that is good advice then I think our demo site could be improved as presently it seems like a good example of bad practice, where we have mixed red, green and blue with joyful and cheerful abandon :-) I had a go to change the Diarrhoea map on the dashboard at http://apps.dhis2.org/dev/dhis-web-dashboard-integration/index.action and I think it is true that it conveys the data better than the extreme multi-coloured ones around it. Even if the distribution of data between bands is not so interesting. Anyone agree or disagree? (the data will only be there for a short while longer) If there is a best practice to be had here regarding colour selection I guess we should promote it, particularly with default offerings so that people have to be quite deliberate in order to go astray. Bob ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp -- Knut Staring Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo +4791880522 http://dhis2.org ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
Re: [Dhis2-users] GIS best practice choice of colours
Hi Bob, I don't think there's one single rule that will fit all when it comes to choosing your symbols or colours for a thematic map depicting numeric values. There's nothing wrong with say a red/yellow/green colour scheme if you are showing for example reporting rates, where low (red) = bad and high (green) = good. If I were to map out HIV prevalence, then I may go from green (low values) to red (high prevalence). More neutral variables such as population density are usually better off with a graduated scheme from light to dark, e.g. pale to dark brown. Maybe the only basic rules are that there should be some logic in the choice of colour ramps, and to keep it simple (don't overload your map, don't use 15 different classes each with a different colour when you only have 20 districts!). I must agree that the current colour scheme for ANC1 and ANC2 coverage by chiefdom in the demo site can definitely be improved: too many colours that are not in a logical order. Your diarrhea map looks better, though it would be even better if you changed the classification type to equal counts rather than equal intervals. Agree with what has been requested recently by Knut: option to display polygon data (e.g district) by symbol, not just colour, and include more symbols because currently it's rather limited. Especially for categorical values the legend behaviour could be greatly improved. Bar/Pie charts as symbols on the map would be cool but not a priority as there are more suitable tools for that. bram On 20 February 2014 17:27, Bob Jolliffe bobjolli...@gmail.com wrote: Hi I am no expert here, but I was talking last week with someone who had just been on a GIS course. She made the interesting observation that when you are displaying numerical data as shaded regions on a map, you should not mix primary colours in the same gradated scale because what you end up with is sort of rubic cube kaleidoscope of colour rather than a clear gradation of values. If that is good advice then I think our demo site could be improved as presently it seems like a good example of bad practice, where we have mixed red, green and blue with joyful and cheerful abandon :-) I had a go to change the Diarrhoea map on the dashboard at http://apps.dhis2.org/dev/dhis-web-dashboard-integration/index.action and I think it is true that it conveys the data better than the extreme multi-coloured ones around it. Even if the distribution of data between bands is not so interesting. Anyone agree or disagree? (the data will only be there for a short while longer) If there is a best practice to be had here regarding colour selection I guess we should promote it, particularly with default offerings so that people have to be quite deliberate in order to go astray. Bob ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
Re: [Dhis2-users] GIS best practice choice of colours
I agree with Bob and since the topic is on the table... I´ve been wondering for a long time now... Why the default legend is painting in green the high values and red the low ones? I believe that it may apply in some cases, but generally... it ends up in showing areas high incidence of cases in green.. and low ones in red... which is not very intuitive for me... Although...it could be solved if we don´t mix primary colors any more On 20 February 2014 16:54, Bram Piot bram.p...@gmail.com wrote: Hi Bob, I don't think there's one single rule that will fit all when it comes to choosing your symbols or colours for a thematic map depicting numeric values. There's nothing wrong with say a red/yellow/green colour scheme if you are showing for example reporting rates, where low (red) = bad and high (green) = good. If I were to map out HIV prevalence, then I may go from green (low values) to red (high prevalence). More neutral variables such as population density are usually better off with a graduated scheme from light to dark, e.g. pale to dark brown. Maybe the only basic rules are that there should be some logic in the choice of colour ramps, and to keep it simple (don't overload your map, don't use 15 different classes each with a different colour when you only have 20 districts!). I must agree that the current colour scheme for ANC1 and ANC2 coverage by chiefdom in the demo site can definitely be improved: too many colours that are not in a logical order. Your diarrhea map looks better, though it would be even better if you changed the classification type to equal counts rather than equal intervals. Agree with what has been requested recently by Knut: option to display polygon data (e.g district) by symbol, not just colour, and include more symbols because currently it's rather limited. Especially for categorical values the legend behaviour could be greatly improved. Bar/Pie charts as symbols on the map would be cool but not a priority as there are more suitable tools for that. bram On 20 February 2014 17:27, Bob Jolliffe bobjolli...@gmail.com wrote: Hi I am no expert here, but I was talking last week with someone who had just been on a GIS course. She made the interesting observation that when you are displaying numerical data as shaded regions on a map, you should not mix primary colours in the same gradated scale because what you end up with is sort of rubic cube kaleidoscope of colour rather than a clear gradation of values. If that is good advice then I think our demo site could be improved as presently it seems like a good example of bad practice, where we have mixed red, green and blue with joyful and cheerful abandon :-) I had a go to change the Diarrhoea map on the dashboard at http://apps.dhis2.org/dev/dhis-web-dashboard-integration/index.action and I think it is true that it conveys the data better than the extreme multi-coloured ones around it. Even if the distribution of data between bands is not so interesting. Anyone agree or disagree? (the data will only be there for a short while longer) If there is a best practice to be had here regarding colour selection I guess we should promote it, particularly with default offerings so that people have to be quite deliberate in order to go astray. Bob ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
Re: [Dhis2-users] GIS best practice choice of colours
Marta, my only thought is that in terms of performance indicators, higher data points would indicate better performance, while lower points indicate poor performance On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 11:16 AM, Marta Vila martav...@gmail.com wrote: I agree with Bob and since the topic is on the table... I´ve been wondering for a long time now... Why the default legend is painting in green the high values and red the low ones? I believe that it may apply in some cases, but generally... it ends up in showing areas high incidence of cases in green.. and low ones in red... which is not very intuitive for me... Although...it could be solved if we don´t mix primary colors any more On 20 February 2014 16:54, Bram Piot bram.p...@gmail.com wrote: Hi Bob, I don't think there's one single rule that will fit all when it comes to choosing your symbols or colours for a thematic map depicting numeric values. There's nothing wrong with say a red/yellow/green colour scheme if you are showing for example reporting rates, where low (red) = bad and high (green) = good. If I were to map out HIV prevalence, then I may go from green (low values) to red (high prevalence). More neutral variables such as population density are usually better off with a graduated scheme from light to dark, e.g. pale to dark brown. Maybe the only basic rules are that there should be some logic in the choice of colour ramps, and to keep it simple (don't overload your map, don't use 15 different classes each with a different colour when you only have 20 districts!). I must agree that the current colour scheme for ANC1 and ANC2 coverage by chiefdom in the demo site can definitely be improved: too many colours that are not in a logical order. Your diarrhea map looks better, though it would be even better if you changed the classification type to equal counts rather than equal intervals. Agree with what has been requested recently by Knut: option to display polygon data (e.g district) by symbol, not just colour, and include more symbols because currently it's rather limited. Especially for categorical values the legend behaviour could be greatly improved. Bar/Pie charts as symbols on the map would be cool but not a priority as there are more suitable tools for that. bram On 20 February 2014 17:27, Bob Jolliffe bobjolli...@gmail.com wrote: Hi I am no expert here, but I was talking last week with someone who had just been on a GIS course. She made the interesting observation that when you are displaying numerical data as shaded regions on a map, you should not mix primary colours in the same gradated scale because what you end up with is sort of rubic cube kaleidoscope of colour rather than a clear gradation of values. If that is good advice then I think our demo site could be improved as presently it seems like a good example of bad practice, where we have mixed red, green and blue with joyful and cheerful abandon :-) I had a go to change the Diarrhoea map on the dashboard at http://apps.dhis2.org/dev/dhis-web-dashboard-integration/index.action and I think it is true that it conveys the data better than the extreme multi-coloured ones around it. Even if the distribution of data between bands is not so interesting. Anyone agree or disagree? (the data will only be there for a short while longer) If there is a best practice to be had here regarding colour selection I guess we should promote it, particularly with default offerings so that people have to be quite deliberate in order to go astray. Bob ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp -- Nicola Hobby MIS Program Manager Office: +1 (202) 469-6685 Skype: nicolahobby *Connect with PSI* Website http://www.psi.org/ | Blog http://blog.psiimpact.com/ | Twitter https://twitter.com/PSIimpact | Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/PSIHealthyLives | YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/healthybehaviors http://www.psi.org/http://blog.psiimpact.com/ https://twitter.com/PSIimpact https://www.facebook.com/PSIHealthyLives http://www.youtube.com/user/healthybehaviors Donate to PSI www.psi.org. 94.5 cents of every dollar raised directly supports PSI programs. ___ Mailing list:
Re: [Dhis2-users] GIS best practice choice of colours
Available as JSON: http://colorbrewer2.org/export/colorbrewer.json On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 4:46 PM, Knut Staring knu...@gmail.com wrote: http://colorbrewer2.org/ On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 4:42 PM, Jan Henrik Øverland janhenrik.overl...@gmail.com wrote: Others will have to comment on this, but what we should do anyway is to add more colours to the palette to allow for a combination of the two - fixed class breaks (predefined legend set) and that nice colour/value gradation Bob mentioned. On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 4:27 PM, Bob Jolliffe bobjolli...@gmail.comwrote: Hi I am no expert here, but I was talking last week with someone who had just been on a GIS course. She made the interesting observation that when you are displaying numerical data as shaded regions on a map, you should not mix primary colours in the same gradated scale because what you end up with is sort of rubic cube kaleidoscope of colour rather than a clear gradation of values. If that is good advice then I think our demo site could be improved as presently it seems like a good example of bad practice, where we have mixed red, green and blue with joyful and cheerful abandon :-) I had a go to change the Diarrhoea map on the dashboard at http://apps.dhis2.org/dev/dhis-web-dashboard-integration/index.action and I think it is true that it conveys the data better than the extreme multi-coloured ones around it. Even if the distribution of data between bands is not so interesting. Anyone agree or disagree? (the data will only be there for a short while longer) If there is a best practice to be had here regarding colour selection I guess we should promote it, particularly with default offerings so that people have to be quite deliberate in order to go astray. Bob ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp -- Knut Staring Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo +4791880522 http://dhis2.org -- Knut Staring Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo +4791880522 http://dhis2.org ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
Re: [Dhis2-users] GIS best practice choice of colours
Exactly: Many children sick = BAD, Many children vaccinated = GOOD On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 5:50 PM, Marta Vila martav...@gmail.com wrote: Yes Nicola, you are right... it is a good combination for that case... also for high coverage of vaccination... for instance. I was thinking more in ... high number of cases of ..., high rate of incidence of..., that generally are not very positive On 20 February 2014 17:19, Nicola Hobby nho...@psi.org wrote: Marta, my only thought is that in terms of performance indicators, higher data points would indicate better performance, while lower points indicate poor performance On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 11:16 AM, Marta Vila martav...@gmail.com wrote: I agree with Bob and since the topic is on the table... I´ve been wondering for a long time now... Why the default legend is painting in green the high values and red the low ones? I believe that it may apply in some cases, but generally... it ends up in showing areas high incidence of cases in green.. and low ones in red... which is not very intuitive for me... Although...it could be solved if we don´t mix primary colors any more On 20 February 2014 16:54, Bram Piot bram.p...@gmail.com wrote: Hi Bob, I don't think there's one single rule that will fit all when it comes to choosing your symbols or colours for a thematic map depicting numeric values. There's nothing wrong with say a red/yellow/green colour scheme if you are showing for example reporting rates, where low (red) = bad and high (green) = good. If I were to map out HIV prevalence, then I may go from green (low values) to red (high prevalence). More neutral variables such as population density are usually better off with a graduated scheme from light to dark, e.g. pale to dark brown. Maybe the only basic rules are that there should be some logic in the choice of colour ramps, and to keep it simple (don't overload your map, don't use 15 different classes each with a different colour when you only have 20 districts!). I must agree that the current colour scheme for ANC1 and ANC2 coverage by chiefdom in the demo site can definitely be improved: too many colours that are not in a logical order. Your diarrhea map looks better, though it would be even better if you changed the classification type to equal counts rather than equal intervals. Agree with what has been requested recently by Knut: option to display polygon data (e.g district) by symbol, not just colour, and include more symbols because currently it's rather limited. Especially for categorical values the legend behaviour could be greatly improved. Bar/Pie charts as symbols on the map would be cool but not a priority as there are more suitable tools for that. bram On 20 February 2014 17:27, Bob Jolliffe bobjolli...@gmail.com wrote: Hi I am no expert here, but I was talking last week with someone who had just been on a GIS course. She made the interesting observation that when you are displaying numerical data as shaded regions on a map, you should not mix primary colours in the same gradated scale because what you end up with is sort of rubic cube kaleidoscope of colour rather than a clear gradation of values. If that is good advice then I think our demo site could be improved as presently it seems like a good example of bad practice, where we have mixed red, green and blue with joyful and cheerful abandon :-) I had a go to change the Diarrhoea map on the dashboard at http://apps.dhis2.org/dev/dhis-web-dashboard-integration/index.action and I think it is true that it conveys the data better than the extreme multi-coloured ones around it. Even if the distribution of data between bands is not so interesting. Anyone agree or disagree? (the data will only be there for a short while longer) If there is a best practice to be had here regarding colour selection I guess we should promote it, particularly with default offerings so that people have to be quite deliberate in order to go astray. Bob ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp -- Nicola Hobby MIS Program Manager Office: +1 (202) 469-6685 Skype: nicolahobby *Connect with PSI* Website http://www.psi.org/ | Blog http://blog.psiimpact.com/ | Twitter
Re: [Dhis2-users] GIS best practice choice of colours
Hi Bram Interesting point about the red-yellow-green combo. These are the traffic light colours which are apparently sufficiently ubiquitous that you can say red=bad and green=good without even explaining further. If snooker was as well known as traffic lights we could do a whole range from red through to pink :-) But in general, using hues as per Knut's colour brewer link is going to be the best bet for most cases of numeric data. You can even print to black and white printers and maintain the message. Good point about equal counts. I actually did do that but somehow it rendered different on the dashboard. Bob On 20 February 2014 15:54, Bram Piot bram.p...@gmail.com wrote: Hi Bob, I don't think there's one single rule that will fit all when it comes to choosing your symbols or colours for a thematic map depicting numeric values. There's nothing wrong with say a red/yellow/green colour scheme if you are showing for example reporting rates, where low (red) = bad and high (green) = good. If I were to map out HIV prevalence, then I may go from green (low values) to red (high prevalence). More neutral variables such as population density are usually better off with a graduated scheme from light to dark, e.g. pale to dark brown. Maybe the only basic rules are that there should be some logic in the choice of colour ramps, and to keep it simple (don't overload your map, don't use 15 different classes each with a different colour when you only have 20 districts!). I must agree that the current colour scheme for ANC1 and ANC2 coverage by chiefdom in the demo site can definitely be improved: too many colours that are not in a logical order. Your diarrhea map looks better, though it would be even better if you changed the classification type to equal counts rather than equal intervals. Agree with what has been requested recently by Knut: option to display polygon data (e.g district) by symbol, not just colour, and include more symbols because currently it's rather limited. Especially for categorical values the legend behaviour could be greatly improved. Bar/Pie charts as symbols on the map would be cool but not a priority as there are more suitable tools for that. bram On 20 February 2014 17:27, Bob Jolliffe bobjolli...@gmail.com wrote: Hi I am no expert here, but I was talking last week with someone who had just been on a GIS course. She made the interesting observation that when you are displaying numerical data as shaded regions on a map, you should not mix primary colours in the same gradated scale because what you end up with is sort of rubic cube kaleidoscope of colour rather than a clear gradation of values. If that is good advice then I think our demo site could be improved as presently it seems like a good example of bad practice, where we have mixed red, green and blue with joyful and cheerful abandon :-) I had a go to change the Diarrhoea map on the dashboard at http://apps.dhis2.org/dev/dhis-web-dashboard-integration/index.action and I think it is true that it conveys the data better than the extreme multi-coloured ones around it. Even if the distribution of data between bands is not so interesting. Anyone agree or disagree? (the data will only be there for a short while longer) If there is a best practice to be had here regarding colour selection I guess we should promote it, particularly with default offerings so that people have to be quite deliberate in order to go astray. Bob ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp ___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
Re: [Dhis2-users] GIS best practice choice of colours
I have extended the color palette. Should allow for a combination of colour/value gradation and fixed classes. [image: Inline image 1] [image: Inline image 2] inline: cp.pnginline: legend.png___ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-users More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
