[OSM-newbies] States with different colour

[Richard Weait]

On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 1:44 PM, H.S.Rai <hardeep.rai at gmail.com> wrote:
> Can we have map like:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_USA_with_state_names.svg
>
> in OSM?
>
> I believe it can be done with relations, but I could not find /
> understand its use. Please let me know good source of information with
> examples.
>
> Since all states are at same level, so how one can give different
> colour to different states?

Dear Professor Rai,

I'm not sure what the state of the art is for the intersection of
automated cartography and the map four color theorem.  As far as I
know, Mapnik does not have an automatic four-colorizer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_color_theorem

Do you have a specific implementation in mind?  For example, would you
like to have your local OSM tile server show Indian states in the four
color method?  This should be manageable, even if done manually.

If you are asking why OSM doesn't use four color rendering on the main
tile server, I guess the answer is that nobody has shown us how to do
it automatically, and / or nobody has taken the interest in
implementing it.  I just had a quick look and Google, Yahoo and
MapQuest don't seem to render that way either.  I don't know why.

Best regards,
Richard