- #666698 for the sea
- #003333 for the land
- #006600 for borders
- yellow for localities
The distribution map is created by overlaying points on a bitmap background using SVG (see SVG specimen maps from SPARQL results for details). SVG is ideally suited to this because you can take the points, plot them in the x,y plane (where x is longitude and y is latitude) then use SVG transformations to move them to the proper place on the map.
For the base maps themselves I've also started to use SVG, partly because it's possible to edit them with a text editor (for example if you want to change the colours). I then use Inkscape to export the SVG to a PNG to use on the web site.
One thing that has bothered me about the equirectangular projection is that, although it is familiar and easy to work with, it gives a distorted view of the world:
This is particularly evident for organisms that have a circumpolar distribution. For example, Kerguelen's petrel Aphrodroma has a distribution that looks like this using the equirectangular projection:
This long, thin distribution looks rather different if we display it on a polar projection:
Likewise, classic Gondwanic distributions such as that of Gripopterygidae become clearer on a polar projection.
Computing the polar coordinates for a set of localities is straightforward (see for example this page) and using SVG to lay out the points also helps, because it's trivial to rotate them so that they match the orientation of the map. Ultimately it would be nice to have an embedded, rotatable 3D globe (like the Google Earth plugin, or a Javascript+SVG approach like this). But for now I think it's nice to have the option of using different projections available to help display distributions more faithfully.
The bitmap maps and their SVG sources are available on github.
