Hypsometric tints
Colors between contour lines indicate elevation on maps.
Hypsometric tints, sometimes called layer or elevation tinting, are colors placed between contour lines to show elevation. They appear as graduated color bands or are applied directly to the contour lines, both methods falling under isarithmic maps. A related technique, bathymetric tinting, is commonly used to represent water depth.
Quick Facts
- Introduced by
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Earliest known map
- central Italy, c.1503
- First colored contour maps
- Franz von Hauslab, late 1820s
- Popularized by
- John Bartholomew and Son
Facts from the source article.
History
Around 1503, Leonardo da Vinci used colored chalk on a map of central Italy to show elevation changes. In the 1700s, spot heights were first used to generate contour lines. Franz von Hauslab is credited with producing the first colored contour maps via lithography in the late 1820s. Chromolithography later made color map copies more widely available. The Scottish firm John Bartholomew and Son helped spread the colored contour method, and their color scheme became standard: dark green for low areas, then yellows, browns, and finally grays and white for the highest elevations.
Application
Maps with discrete hypsometric tinting show a distinct, uniform color between each contour, giving a stepped appearance; the historical bathymetric map by Matthew Fontaine Maury from 1853 is an example. Continuous hypsometric tinting uses a gradual shift from one tint to another for a smoother look, often employing data from a digital elevation model (DEM), where each pixel is assigned a color matching its exact elevation. A typical color scheme moves from dark greens at lower elevations through yellows and browns to grays and white at the highest. For bathymetric tinting, lighter blues indicate shallower water and darker blues deeper regions. Some cartographers have suggested that hypsometric tints are often used as decoration rather than for information, noting that the result is a map with pleasing colors that blend softly, a design trait people find attractive even if they do not care about elevations.
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