Diverging Color Maps for Scientific Visualization. Moreland, K. In Bebis, G., Boyle, R., Parvin, B., Koracin, D., Kuno, Y., Wang, J., Pajarola, R., Lindstrom, P., Hinkenjann, A., Encarnação, M., Silva, C., & Coming, D., editors, Advances in Visual Computing, volume 5876, of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 92–103. Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Diverging Color Maps for Scientific Visualization [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
One of the most fundamental features of scientific visualization is the process of mapping scalar values to colors. This process allows us to view scalar fields by coloring surfaces and volumes. Unfortunately, the majority of scientific visualization tools still use a color map that is famous for its ineffectiveness: the rainbow color map. This color map, which naïvely sweeps through the most saturated colors, is well known for its ability to obscure data, introduce artifacts, and confuse users. Although many alternate color maps have been proposed, none have achieved widespread adoption by the visualization community for scientific visualization. This paper explores the use of diverging color maps (sometimes also called ratio, bipolar, or double-ended color maps) for use in scientific visualization, provides a diverging color map that generally performs well in scientific visualization applications, and presents an algorithm that allows users to easily generate their own customized color maps.
@incollection{morelandDivergingColorMaps2009,
  title = {Diverging Color Maps for Scientific Visualization},
  booktitle = {Advances in {{Visual Computing}}},
  author = {Moreland, Kenneth},
  editor = {Bebis, George and Boyle, Richard and Parvin, Bahram and Koracin, Darko and Kuno, Yoshinori and Wang, Junxian and Pajarola, Renato and Lindstrom, Peter and Hinkenjann, André and Encarnação, MiguelL and Silva, CláudioT and Coming, Daniel},
  date = {2009},
  volume = {5876},
  pages = {92--103},
  publisher = {{Springer Berlin Heidelberg}},
  doi = {10.1007/978-3-642-10520-3\\_9},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-10520-3_9},
  abstract = {One of the most fundamental features of scientific visualization is the process of mapping scalar values to colors. This process allows us to view scalar fields by coloring surfaces and volumes. Unfortunately, the majority of scientific visualization tools still use a color map that is famous for its ineffectiveness: the rainbow color map. This color map, which naïvely sweeps through the most saturated colors, is well known for its ability to obscure data, introduce artifacts, and confuse users. Although many alternate color maps have been proposed, none have achieved widespread adoption by the visualization community for scientific visualization. This paper explores the use of diverging color maps (sometimes also called ratio, bipolar, or double-ended color maps) for use in scientific visualization, provides a diverging color map that generally performs well in scientific visualization applications, and presents an algorithm that allows users to easily generate their own customized color maps.},
  keywords = {*imported-from-citeulike-INRMM,~INRMM-MiD:c-12538538,color-blindness,scientific-communication,visual-notation,visualization},
  series = {Lecture {{Notes}} in {{Computer Science}}}
}

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