Proposal for a Standard in Cartographic Visualization of Natural Risks and Disasters

The paper considers different examples of cartographic visualization of natural risks and disasters. The ubiquitous mapping of the risk processes is discussed in the direction of process of standardization. It is done on the base of existing standards and proposals for standards in the considered area. Different kinds of disasters caused by earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, floods, oil spills, wildfires and other natural phenomena can be visualized after their modeling in one and the same way. When we have the appropriate classified geographic data, a disaster or natural risk can be modeled using a standard color system (RGB or CMYK) and a standard cartographic symbol system on computer generated maps. Standard color and symbol systems should be designed on cartographic principles to be simple, associated with objects or phenomena and readable for users.