Diverging Palette

A diverging palette is a symmetric color scheme designed for data with a critical midpoint—such as zero, the mean, or a policy target—where values above and below that center carry different significance. The palette transitions from one saturated hue through a light or neutral center to a contrasting saturated hue, making it immediately clear which areas exceed, meet, or fall below the reference point. Common use cases include temperature anomaly maps (warmer vs. cooler than average), election margin maps (party A vs. party B), elevation change maps (uplift vs. subsidence), and economic indicators like profit/loss ratios. The neutral midpoint ensures that readers are not misled about which direction a value deviates. ColorBrewer provides several well-tested diverging palettes such as RdBu (red-blue), BrBG (brown-blue-green), and PiYG (pink-yellow-green), all designed with perceptual uniformity and colorblind safety. When applying a diverging palette, it is important to set the midpoint to the actual meaningful center of the data rather than the statistical middle of the range. GISGISGeographic Information Systems (GIS) enable users to analyze and visualize spatial data to uncover patterns, relation... and visualization tools including ArcGISArcGISArcGIS is a leading GIS platform offering tools for spatial analysis, mapping, and data visualization. It serves a wi... Pro, QGISQGISQGIS is a user-friendly, open-source GIS platform that provides tools for geospatial data analysis, mapping, and inte..., D3.js, and MapboxMapboxMapbox is a robust platform that equips developers with tools to create highly customizable, interactive maps for web... all support diverging palette application with configurable class breaks.