DESCRIPTION:
These Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop color palettes are based on the specifications defined in the "Standards for Digital Raster Graphics" published by the U.S. Geological Survey National Mapping Program.

"Although only six inks are employed on a USGS topographic map, screen printing processes can create more than six defined colors. The USGS DRGs will employ a color palette, or look-up table, consisting of 13 colors depending on the map series and whether or not the scanned image is descreened....
The colors defined in the color loo-up tables are chosen to represent as closely as possible the colors of the printed map within a map series. However, it is likely that the DRG will not match precisely the colors of its printed counterpart. An example of a specific color variation on DRGs applies to the display of bathymetric depths, which are printed on some paper maps as different shades of blue--the deeper the depth, the bluer the color. The DRG will contain only two blues, dark blue for shorelines and light blue for open water bodies, to describe all open water on a given map." (Standards for Digital Raster Graphics, Part 2 Specifications, Section 2.B Color Standardization)

NOTE:
These color palettes are RGB only, not CMYK.

COST:
Free.

INSTALLATION:
Compression: These files were compressed using Aladdin Systems StuffIt. Aladdin Systems provides free decompression software (StuffIt Expander) at their web site for both Macintosh and Windows.
For Adobe Illustrator: Place the USGS_DRG.AI (this file can be renamed, it is generic for cross-platform reasons) file in the Swatch Libraries folder in the Adobe Illustrator folder. In Illustrator use the Swatch Libraries -> Other Library command to import the color palette.
For Adobe Photoshop: Place the USGS_DRG.ACO (this file can be renamed, it is generic for cross-platform reasons) file in the Color Palettes folder, in the Goodies folder, in the Adobe Photoshop folder. In Photoshop, from the Swatch Palette, choose either Load Swatches... or Replace Swatches... to load the color swatch.