Map Color Palette Generator — ColorBrewer Alternative
Create professional color palettes for choropleth and thematic maps; sequential, diverging and qualitative schemes, with HEX / CSS / ArcGIS / SLD export.
Palette Type
Preset Palettes
Custom Colors
Preview
Export
Related Tools
Map Color Palette Generator
Color is one of the most powerful variables in cartographic design. A well-chosen color scheme guides the map reader's eye, communicates the nature of the data (ordered, diverging, or categorical), and remains accessible to colorblind audiences. The Rodosto Map Color Palette Generator gives GIS professionals, cartographers, and web developers a fast, free way to create production-ready color palettes specifically designed for geographic data visualization.
Unlike generic design tools, this generator is built around the three palette types established in cartographic science. Each palette can be adjusted from 3 to 12 color classes and exported directly in formats consumed by common GIS software and web mapping applications.
Palette Types
- Sequential: A smooth progression from a light hue to a saturated one, appropriate for ordered data such as population density, elevation, precipitation, or income levels. The eye naturally reads darker as "more."
- Diverging: Two contrasting hues that meet at a neutral midpoint color. Ideal for data with a meaningful center value, such as temperature anomalies above and below average, or net migration gain and loss.
- Qualitative: Visually distinct hues with no implied order, suited for nominal or categorical data such as land-use class, vegetation type, or administrative region.
How to Use
Select a palette type from the tabs, then move the slider to choose the number of data classes your map requires. Pick a preset palette from the buttons displayed below, or switch to a custom color and define your own start, middle (diverging only), and end colors. The live preview updates instantly. When your palette is ready, use the export buttons to copy the output in the format your workflow needs:
- HEX Array: A JSON array of hex color codes for any JavaScript-based data visualization or custom web map styling.
- CSS: CSS custom property declarations ready to paste into a stylesheet.
- ArcGIS (.clr): An ArcGIS color map you can save as a .clr file and import in ArcGIS Pro or ArcMap as a classified or raster color ramp.
- SLD ColorMap: An OGC Styled Layer Descriptor snippet for raster layer styling in GeoServer or ArcGIS Server.
Other Tools
Once your symbology is defined, explore our other GIS tools. Use the GeoJSON Formatter to validate and prettify the data your map will display, or convert spatial data formats with the Shapefile to GeoJSON Converter. Need to define the spatial extent for your map service? The Bounding Box Tool lets you draw and export extent coordinates instantly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between sequential, diverging, and qualitative palettes?
Sequential palettes show a one-directional transition from light to dark and are ideal for ordered data such as population or elevation. Diverging palettes split from a midpoint in two directions and are suitable for data showing deviation, like temperature anomaly or profit and loss. Qualitative palettes use distinct colors for categorical data such as land use categories or administrative regions.
How do I choose colorblind-safe palettes?
This tool automatically calculates the contrast ratio between adjacent colors for each palette and flags palettes that are considered safe for colorblind users. Palettes based on blue and orange tones — such as Blues, Oranges, and RdBu — are generally the safest choices. Avoiding red-green combinations is a reliable rule of thumb for accessible cartography.
How do I use the generated palette in GIS software or a web mapping application?
Click the ArcGIS (.clr) export button to copy a color map you can save as a .clr text file and import in ArcGIS Pro or ArcMap as a classified symbology ramp or raster color map. For OGC-compliant map servers, click the SLD ColorMap button to get an SLD fragment ready for GeoServer or ArcGIS Server. The HEX Array button copies a JSON array of hex codes you can use in any custom application.
How many color classes can I generate?
The tool supports between 3 and 12 color classes. You can adjust the number of classes using the slider. In cartographic practice, most thematic maps use 5 to 7 classes for optimal readability, as using too many classes makes it difficult for map readers to distinguish individual categories.
Can I create a custom color palette rather than using a preset?
Yes. The tool includes a custom color section where you can pick your own start and end colors for sequential palettes, or start, middle, and end colors for diverging palettes. The tool interpolates the intermediate steps automatically. This is useful when your organization has brand colors that must be incorporated into map designs.
What is a choropleth map and which palette type should I use for it?
A choropleth map shades geographic areas such as countries or census tracts according to a statistical variable, making spatial patterns immediately visible. Use a sequential palette when the data has a natural low-to-high order, such as income levels or population density. Use a diverging palette when there is a meaningful midpoint, such as zero in a change map or the average in an anomaly map.
What is the SLD ColorMap export and when should I use it?
Styled Layer Descriptor (SLD) is an OGC standard for defining map symbology for raster and vector layers served through WMS. The SLD ColorMap export produces an XML snippet listing each color stop with its quantity value, ready to paste into an SLD style applied to a raster layer in GeoServer, ArcGIS Server, or any other OGC-compliant map server. This is the most direct way to apply your palette to a continuously-valued raster dataset.