Better colours on every OrionAI map

A map is only as clear as its colours. Population density should run from a pale colour where few people live to a deep one where many do. Rainfall should read as water. Land cover should show each type in its own colour, without one type looking "more" than another. And the colours on the map must be exactly the ones in the key.

OrionAI now handles this for you.

Colours chosen by meaning. OrionAI picks a colour scale from what the values are: warm two-colour gradients for population, density and heat, blues for rainfall, greens for vegetation, two-sided scales for change, and distinct palettes for categories. Eighteen tested ColorBrewer scales, the set many cartographers use, join the list in OrionAI and in the Style panel.

Classes that follow the data. Classed maps now use natural breaks, which follow the real gaps in the values, so a country with one very dense city still shows differences between all its other areas. OrionAI checks how well the classes fit and tells you on the result card which method it used and why.

Smooth gradients. Ask for a smooth map and each area is coloured along one gradient between two end colours, with a gradient bar in the legend.

A map that matches its key. Coloured areas are now drawn so that boundary layers underneath no longer tint them, so the colours you see are the colours in the key.

You can still change any of it in the Style panel, or ask OrionAI to restyle in plain words, such as "use blues" or "make it a smooth gradient".

Read the full OrionAI 2.12.0 release notes.