Hiking paths hardly readable in south faces due to hillshading

[sletuffe]

Here are 3 screenshots for comparing the same place :

IGN TOP25 (French National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information)

OpenHikingMap

Tracetrack TOPO

Two ways to improve readability for Hiking paths in hillshading :

• Brighter hillshading, because it also make contours and other features less readable
• white halo around path to increase contrast

[crispgarmin]

Also look at Mapterhorn for better resolution hillshade?
https://mapterhorn.com/examples/hillshade/

[sletuffe]

Also look at Mapterhorn for better resolution hillshade? https://mapterhorn.com/examples/hillshade/

I've looked into Mapterhorn but to my understanding, this project offers hillshaded tiles for download on client side in conjunction with vector tiles displayed on top of it. Not usable in my raster tile setup.
Also I don't feel precise hillshading is that much of interest for hiking. It sure looks nice, but past the "whaoo" effect, I don't feel much use out of such precise information.

However the underlying data elevation model might be of interest for more precise contours generation. Because in the end, I think the human brain is more suited for counting contour lines and reading numbers than comparing the gray gradiant of different slopes.

[sletuffe]

Here goes with the latest adjustements of the same place :

I find it more readable

[crispgarmin]

I would say the readability difficulty is more about the rock/scree pattern/stipple than the hillshade.

Can the underlying roc hatch pattern be lightened instead or as well as the hillshade to help?

[sletuffe]

Hi,
Sorry for the late answer.

Indeed, after brightening the hillshade (it helps several other cases, like for contours elevation reading), that is still not perfect. And I think you get it right : especially with the bare rock pattern : it is blended even darker in shadows.

But when there are no "rock face" :

A dashed red path is fine.

That is not on top of my list, but I'll try some adjustments with the blending function and/or brightening at the source the png pattern.