Hypsometric tints (also called layer tinting, elevation tinting, elevation coloring, or hysometric coloring) are colors placed betweencontour lines to indicateelevation. These tints are shown as bands of color in a graduated scheme or as acolor scheme applied to contour lines themselves; either method is considered a type ofIsarithmic map. Hypsometric tinting of maps andglobes is often accompanied by a similar method ofbathymetric tinting to convey differences in water depth.
In his map of centralItaly, c.1503,Leonardo da Vinci introduced the cartographic convention of using colored chalk to indicate changes in elevation.[1][2]
In the 18th century,spot heights were firstinterpolated to createcontour lines. In the late 1820s,Franz von Hauslab [de] was credited for the first colored contour maps usinglithography. With the invention ofchromolithography, copies of colored maps became more accessible.[3]TheScottish map firmJohn Bartholomew and Son is credited with popularizing the coloredcontour line technique, and their color scheme has become conventional: dark greens at low elevations, progressing through yellows and others, to browns and then grays and white at the highest elevations.
At right is "The very earliest rendition of a bathymetric map of an oceanic basin.Matthew Fontaine Maury published this map in 1853 inExplanations and Sailing Directions to Accompany the Wind and Current Charts."[4]
There are two primary types of hypsometric tinting: discrete and continuous.
Maps with discrete hypsometric tinting have a distinct, uniform color between each of the contours, which give them a stepped appearance. The historical bathymetric map shown at the right is an example of discrete hypsometric tinting.
In a map with continuous hypsometric tinting, there is a gradual shift from one tint to another, which presents a smoother appearance. This is often accomplished using data from adigital elevation model (DEM). Each pixel in the DEM is assigned a color which corresponds to the exact elevation at that location, so it is more precise than discrete hypsometric tinting.[5] The colorful image of the moon has continuous hypsometric tinting.
A typical color scheme progresses from dark greens for lower elevations, up through yellows/browns and on to grays and white at the highest elevations.[6] In bathymetric tinting, lighter shades of blue represent shallower water such as thecontinental shelf and darker shades represent deeper regions.
Similar tofalse-color imagery, hypsometric tints can be used to make geographic information more accessible, as with this image of lunar topography.
Some cartographers have suggested that hypsometric tints are often used as decoration, rather than for informational purposes:[7]
...the current popularity of hypsometric tints has more to do with production ease and pretty colors than it does with our interest in elevation. ... With hypsometric tints, the result is often a map with pleasing colors that blend softly into one another in an orderly fashion, a design trait that people find attractive, even if they don't necessarily know or care about elevations.