Painting new lines: Maximizing color difference in metro maps

TL;DR

This paper proposes a strategy for selecting new metro line colors that maximize color difference from existing lines and among new lines, demonstrated on the Moscow metro map.

Contribution

It introduces a method for choosing new metro line colors to maximize visual distinction, considering existing colors and multiple new lines.

Findings

Effective color selection strategy for metro maps.

Application demonstrated on Moscow metro map.

Improved visual clarity for new lines.

Abstract

Each metro line usually has its own color on the map. For obvious reasons, these colors should be maximally different. Suppose a new metro line is built. We now explain a strategy to choose the color or several colors for the new lines, making them as different as possible from both the old ones and each other. This is illustrated by using the Moscow metro map.