----------------------------Original message---------------------------- David Forrest is right about there being no HLS/RGB standard. Not only is there no standard for topographic maps across the board, but if you start looking over time within map series, you'll see a wide variance. Even within a standard series there can be changes as big as USGS's going from 7 to 5 colors of ink for the 7.5' series (with a sixth for supplementary edition information), eliminating separate inks for light blue and pink, which have since been tints of blue and red. About the same time as this shift was made (sometime in the 1950s), a similar shift was made in the 1:250K series. Even wwithin a given year's production, there is between sheets a considerable variation in ink color. For the Ordnance Survey map series, I highly recommend Ordnance Survey Maps: A Descriptive Guide, by JB Harley. It includes an exhaustive index of all OS map series up to the time of printing (1975). I have found this very useful in looking at color in OS maps. I also recommend Ulla Ehresvard's essay on color in Art and Cartography, ed. David Woodward, 1987. But to return to you original question, I think the best way to get a sense of actual map ink colors is get a Pantone swatch book and just try and match them up with sample maps. Especially with older maps, you'll find the paper coloration a major factor, but you should be able to get close... -- Nat Case Hedberg Maps, Inc. Publisher of PROFESSOR PATHFINDER Maps ___________________________________________________ Production Office (White River Jct, VT): [log in to unmask] Business and Sales Office (Minneapolis, MN): [log in to unmask]