• Isoline contours are one of the earliest ways in which geophysical data were displayed. They offer the advantage that the magnitudes of extreme anomalies are easily seen, but it is difficult to portray subtle anomalies. Because the human eye is drawn to the sharp edges created by the contours it can be difficult to visualize a sense of overall pattern.
  
  
• The gray scale produces photographic-like rendering that is able to show anomalies of extreme subtlety and is perhaps more responsible for the ongoing acceptance of geophysical results in archaeology than any other method. Results can "look like" the buried archaeology. Its principal disadvantage is that the sizes of anomalies of extreme magnitude are often lost due to image saturation commonly employed for contrast improvements.
  
  
• The color scale possesses many of the advantages of the gray scale, but since the eye can distinguish between less than 100 grays and more than 10,000 colors, the potential for improved visualization seems clear. Color scales can be designed to emphasize certain measurements or features. Poor color scales can actually hide significant features and focus or distract attention on or from certain elements of the image. High contrast between spatially adjacent colors may also produce false anomalies (see color palettes).
  
  
• The shaded relief map generates an artificial light source that casts computed shadows across a surface. With low light angles extremely subtle details can be emphasized, and changes in light source position can potentially reveal new anomalies of interest.
  
  
• The dot density plot generates random dots in a density proportionate to the sizes of the underlying measurements. It best portrays differences between regions of strongly contrasting measurements.
  
  
• The tilted contour map, stacked profiles (also called trace plots), and the wireframe (or fishnet) all offer the advantage of generating a pseudo-three-dimensional effect that allows absolute and relative measurement magnitudes to be readily visualized.
  
  
• The simple profile represents measurements from a single transect taken across the data set. While it does not offer a full plan view of the survey area it does offer considerable insight about the relative magnitudes of relationships.
  
  
• The combination of display modes allows the advantages of several to be offered simultaneously, as when contours, stacked profiles, or a wireframe are placed over a color or gray scale image.

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