Problem

A number of fields now routinely have correlated image data that can benefit from being visualized together. In these cases, a single 2D colormap allows one to see correlations not apparent when using two separate images with 1D colormaps side-by-side. However, constructing and using a 2D colormap in matplotlib is a non-trivial.

I built a package of 2D colormaps designed to be used with matplotlib ( https://github.com/trygvrad/colorstamps, also on pypi) because there was demand within my research community. However, there are other implementations of 2D colormaps as well ( https://github.com/endolith/complex_colormap, https://pypi.org/project/pycolormap-2d/ , https://github.com/nschloe/cplot, and probably others. See also relevant papers such as https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2079841 etc.). At a recent scientific conference I was advised that integrating 2D colormaps into matplotlib proper might be of interest to the broader matplotlib community. I would be happy to contribute to this, but a number of decisions would have to be made with regards to implementation, API etc.

Proposed solution

Implement an API for 2D colormaps in matplotlib.