I see this, Jim. This is a really nice job. Unfortunately, the average petroglyph might be more easily discernible to some of the RDs I work with than the black & white version of this map.
Gene, can you help me understand the "correct size" constraint? I could easily fit all USATF maps on just a small portion of my home PC hard drive. I would guess this is true for any of us who use a Mac or PC that is less than 6 or 7 years old. So, USATF storage space and/or server capacity cannot be a valid reason to require small file sizes for maps, can it? As far as display and download speeds, almost no one uses dial-up anymore, do they?
I can take a wild guess that a check with the USATF IT chief would reveal no need to constrain maps to any particular file size - right? If the answer from this IT person is "Yes, we must restrict file size", then I contend that there is something wrong with the USATF IT enterprise architecture.
I could host the entire database of USATF maps of any size from my modest home PC and my low-cost cable Internet connection and still have plenty of resources left over. Nevertheless, if USATF really needs a server upgrade in order to support greyscale and color maps, and cannot afford it, why don't we start a fund for donations from interested parties? Maybe in a few months or so we could raise sufficient resources to upgrade USATF's hardware.
Jim's map and other color maps I have seen are to me more practical and more valuable because they are easier for volunteer RDs, timing company personnel, and course layout volunteers to understand. True especially for complicated courses or half/full marathons where a we must present a large volume of data on a single page. They help prevent course layout errors which, after all, mitigate the value of our meticulous measurement work. For instance, a large recent race in the D.C. region laid out the courses improperly. A flood of Internet traffic about the race stated that "the course was not measured accurately". Bob Thurston, needless to say, took exception to these uninformed assertions.
Whether color maps would have made it easier for the rocket scientists who conducted this much-maligned event to set up the course properly is doubtful, I concede. However, there are plenty of competent and well-meaning race management personnel out there who struggle with otherwise good certification maps. For the general public, IMHO, anything we can do to make our maps easier for our clients to work with is a worthwhile pursuit.