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Generating high‐quality sequential color schemes for maps is challenging for most mapmakers. This article presents a harmony‐based approach for automatically generating sequential color schemes for maps. The proposed approach consists of two steps: (a) color harmony quantification for sequential color schemes on maps and (b) color scheme generation using quantified color harmony factors. The approach was tested using three experimental maps, including the Chinese water body density index map, Chinese vegetation cover index map, and Chinese population density map. Effectiveness was evaluated by comparing color schemes generated by the proposed approach with those created by the probability‐based method and ColorBrewer. Twenty‐six participants were invited to rate each map color scheme using a 5‐point scale. A t test was also used to examine the significance of the difference. The results show that the mean points of color schemes using the proposed approach are higher than those using the probability‐based method, and the corresponding P‐values are far lower than.05, which suggests that the proposed approach is better than the probability‐based method and can improve the sequential color scheme quality in automatic ways. The mean points of color schemes created using the proposed approach are also slightly higher than or similar to those of ColorBrewer, which are well‐known map color schemes manually designed by an experienced cartographer. This result further suggests that the proposed approach can meet the requirement of automatic generation for high‐quality sequential color schemes on maps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Creating a satisfying quantitative color scheme is challenging for both novices and experts. Geovisualization often suffers from the misuse and misunderstanding of quantitative color schemes. This article presents an adaptive method to create ready‐to‐use quantitative schemes. A probability‐based method for color selection is presented to quantify the selection of quantitative colors from learning samples of varying popularity. To shape the color transitions, a regression analysis is performed to fit the mathematical curves for the transitions of hue, saturation, and brightness. Finally, the problem of creating satisfying quantitative schemes is translated into a multiconstraint optimization problem. A discretize‐and‐filter method is also presented to solve the optimization problem of globally identifying a suitable scheme in a continuous color space. The proposed method is evaluated with a case study, and the results indicate that the proposed method can derive satisfying schemes. In addition, the proposed method is adaptive to mapping feature, target reader and target device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Creating a satisfying qualitative color scheme from scratch may be difficult for novice mapmakers and experts. A probability‐based method is proposed to identify knowledge regarding qualitative color selection from readily available color schemes and formalize the discovered knowledge to assist in color creation. An unsupervised method to extract the general trends of color selection is presented, and the issue of qualitative color selection is translated into a multi‐constraint optimization problem. A feasible solution for achieving the global optimum is then provided. A probability‐based method is also proposed to match abstract color values with specific mapping features. This proposed approach is evaluated in a case study. The results of the case study suggest that the proposed method allows users to create qualitative color schemes more efficiently and confidently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I consider Jia Zhangke's 2004 film The World (shijie) as a tool for critical thinking about the challenges of modernity and globalization for internal migrants in contemporary China, especially young rural women working in Beijing, and the gender politics of their representation. A close reading of the film, juxtaposed with ethnographic studies on China's internal migration and rural women, demonstrates that The World's visual and narrative techniques provide valuable insight into the disjuncture between transnational imaginaries and local material conditions, which together contour migrants' experience of globalization. However, to effectively deliver its critique, The World relies upon a chauvinistic convention of using “rural woman” as a sign of social ills, rather than an agent of social change. I suggest that deconstructing the gendering of modernity and national identity by recognizing rural migrant women as agents of globalization can mitigate the dire message of The World that, ultimately, rural woman and modernity are incompatible, as are, allegorically, China and globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]