District Builder User Guide 5-1-12

7/31/2019 District Builder User Guide 5-1-12

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DistrictBuilderUserGuide,Version1.4


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DistrictBuilder UserGuide,v1.4 2 13May2012

TableofContentsDistrictBuilderOverview............................................................................................................................... 4WhatisDistrictBuilder?............................................................................................................................ 4WhoWeAre.............................................................................................................................................. 4WelcometotheDistrictBuilderUserGuide............................................................................................. 5QuickStartGuide...................................................................................................................................... 5LoggingIn.................................................................................................................................................. 7CreatingaUserAccount........................................................................................................................... 7MaximumNumberofLoggedInUsers................................................................................................. 7GuestUsers........................................................................................................................................... 8

ThePlanStep................................................................................................................................................ 9Step1:SelectLegislativeBody/Layer..................................................................................................... 10LayerType1:LegislativeBodies......................................................................................................... 10LayerType2:CommunityMaps......................................................................................................... 10

Step2:SelectPlanType.......................................................................................................................... 11UploadaPlan...................................................................................................................................... 12Upload

Plan

Requirements

.................................................................................................................

13

Howtouploadaplan.......................................................................................................................... 13DownloadPlan.................................................................................................................................... 14

Step3:SelectPlan................................................................................................................................... 15NavigatingListsofAvailablePlans...................................................................................................... 16DeletingPlans..................................................................................................................................... 16

Step4:NameaNewPlan/StartDrawing................................................................................................ 16EditPlanDescription........................................................................................................................... 17

TheDrawStep............................................................................................................................................. 18MapLegend............................................................................................................................................ 19MapLayers.............................................................................................................................................. 20Shading

Underlying

Editable

Geography

............................................................................................

20

ShadingDistricts.................................................................................................................................. 21ShowReferenceLayers....................................................................................................................... 22

ZoomandPanTools................................................................................................................................ 25PanTool.............................................................................................................................................. 25ZoomTools.......................................................................................................................................... 25MarquisZoomTool............................................................................................................................. 26

MapTransparency.................................................................................................................................. 26MapToolSets......................................................................................................................................... 27MapEditingToolSet........................................................................................................................... 28

CreateaNewDistrict.............................................................................................................................. 32DistrictToolsSet..................................................................................................................................... 33Lock

District

Tool

.................................................................................................................................

33

DistrictInfoTool.................................................................................................................................. 33UnassignDistrictTool......................................................................................................................... 33DistrictCopyandPasteTool............................................................................................................... 34

IdentifyingSplitGeographies.................................................................................................................. 36ShowSplits.......................................................................................................................................... 36GenerateSplitsReport........................................................................................................................ 36SelectReferenceLayerforReport(Default)....................................................................................... 37


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ReverseSplitsDetectionandExtendedReport(Optional)................................................................. 37GenerateaSplitsReport..................................................................................................................... 37CloseSplitsReportPopupWindow.................................................................................................... 37

PlanStatistics.............................................................................................................................................. 39TheStatisticsPane.................................................................................................................................. 39HidingtheStatisticsPane.................................................................................................................... 40PlanStatistics...................................................................................................................................... 40DistrictStatistics.................................................................................................................................. 41HighlightDistricts................................................................................................................................ 42AvailableStatistics.............................................................................................................................. 42

StatisticsEditor....................................................................................................................................... 43CreateNewStatisticsSet.................................................................................................................... 43EditStatisticsSet................................................................................................................................. 44DeleteStatisticsSet............................................................................................................................ 44

CommunityMaps........................................................................................................................................ 45DrawingaCommunity............................................................................................................................ 45CommunityStatistics.............................................................................................................................. 47Community

List

...................................................................................................................................

47

DisplayingCommunityStatistics......................................................................................................... 48TheEvaluateStep....................................................................................................................................... 49SelectingStatisticsforReporting............................................................................................................ 50GeneratingaReport................................................................................................................................ 51CompletedReport................................................................................................................................... 51

TheShareStep............................................................................................................................................ 53SharingPlans........................................................................................................................................... 54ActionsThatCanBeTakenwithSharedPlans........................................................................................ 54PlanExport.............................................................................................................................................. 54VerifyandPostPlanstoLeaderboards................................................................................................... 55Plan

Verification

......................................................................................................................................

55

Leaderboards.......................................................................................................................................... 56TopRankedUsers'Plans......................................................................................................................... 58MyRankedPlans..................................................................................................................................... 58


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DistrictBuilderOverview

WhatisDistrictBuilder?DistrictBuilderempowerspeopletodrawthroughtheirwebbrowserscompletelegalredistrictingplans,

singledistricts,

and

maps

of

their

communities.

The

application's

social

networking

features

enable

crowdsourcingsothatpeoplecanshareandcollaborateontheirwork.Customizedreportingfunctions

combinedwithleaderboardsshowwhichredistrictingplansare,forexample,themostcompactor

politicallyfair.Theresultingmapscanbeexportedinpdfandinaformatcommonlyusedbyother

redistrictingsoftwaresothataredistrictingauthoritymayconsiderthem.Thesoftwareisdesignedtobe

functionalatthecensusblocklevel thesmallestgeographicunitforredistricting enablingusersto

drawredistrictingplansthatstrictlyfollowcomplexlegalcriteria.

DistrictBuilderisopensource,meaningthatanyonewithsufficienttechnicalskillscaninstallthe

softwareonawebserverforfree.OnceanadministratorinstallsDistrictBuilder,othersmaycreateuser

accountsto

draw

plans.

This

is

how

most

people

typically

interact

with

the

software.

Anyone

can

view

publiclysharedplansasananonymoususer.ThesourcecodeforDistrictBuilderandotherresourcesare

availableat:http://www.districtbuilder.org/.

WhoWeAreThePrincipalInvestigatorsofDistrictBuilderareDr.MicahAltmanattheMassachusettsInstituteof

TechnologyandMichaelMcDonaldatGeorgeMasonUniversity. BotharenonresidentSeniorFellows

attheBrookingsInstitution.

SoftwaredevelopmentforDistrictBuilderisprimarilyconductedbyAzavea,ageospatialsoftwaredesign

anddevelopment

firm.

All

capable

programmers

are

welcome

to

contribute

to

the

source

code.

SupportforDistrictBuildersoftwaredevelopmenthasbeenprovidedbytheSloanFoundation,theJoyce

Foundation,TheJudyFordWasonCenterforPublicPolicyatChristopherNewportUniversity,Amazon

WebServicesandAzavea.


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WelcometotheDistrictBuilderUserGuide.Oncearegistereduserhasloggedintoacreatedaccount,therearefourprimarytasksthatcanbe

accomplishedusingDistrictBuilder.

Shortdescriptionsofthesetasksarevisibleintheabovegraphic:Plan,Draw,Evaluate,andShare.

Thearrowsareintendedtosuggestaworkflow:

1. FirstselectaPlantodraw.

2. ThenDrawthedistrictsoracommunitymap.

3. ThenEvaluatethework.

4. FinallySharetheworkwithothers.

RegistereduserscanaccessallofDistrictBuilder'sfunctionality.Anonymousguestusersmayselect

redistrictingplans

or

community

maps,

view

maps

through

adrawing

interface

with

limited

functionality,evaluatemaps,andviewLeaderboards,butcannotdrawmaps.

QuickStartGuideSomepeopleliketodiverightinandexploreaprogram.Forthosewhowanttogetstartedrightaway,

followthesestepstolaunchamappingsession.

DistrictBuilderisdesignedtobeasintuitiveaspossible,butdrawinglegalredistrictingplansis

complicated.DistrictBuilderworksatthelowestlevelofgeographypossible,whatareknownascensus

blocks.Typicallegalredistrictingplansmustbedrawnusingcensusblocks.DistrictBuilderprovidesa

wealthoffeaturesandstatisticsthatallowuserstoevaluatehowtheirplanssatisfylegalrequirements.

Whilethesefeaturesmayseemdauntingtonovices,theyarenecessarytodrawlegalredistrictingplans.

DistrictBuilderisdesignedspecificallyforredistrictingandisnotafullyfunctionalgeographic

informationsystemprogram.Administratorsconfiguremuchofthesoftwarebehindthescenessothat

userscanspendmoreoftheirtimemapping.Tostartmapping:

1. Createauseraccountandlogin

2. SelectaplanamongthevisibleTemplateplans(perhapsthecurrentcongressionalplan for

now,stayawayfromablankmap).

3. Givetheplananame.

4. Press"Start

Drawing".

5. Amapwillbepresentedtoedit.

6. Underthe"MapEditingTools"atthetopofthepage,clickthe"SingleSelect"icon.

7. Leftclickonaunitofgeography.Itwillbehighlighted,whichindicatesithasbeenselected.

8. Underthe"MapEditingTools"atthetopofthepage,clickthe"ClickandDrag"icon.

9. Movethemouseovertheselectedgeographyandthepointerarrowchangestoafourpointed

arrow. Leftclickonthegeographyandaclosedhandwillappear.Theselectioncannowbe


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"dragged"ontoadifferentdistrictthanitiscurrentlyassignedto.Whenthemousebuttonis

releasedthegeographywillbeassignedtothenewdistrictandthestatisticsontherighthand

sideofthescreenwillbeupdated.

10.Someadditionalquicktips:

a) Zoomintoseesmallergeographiestoedit.

b) Districtsare

initially

color

coded

by

how

their

population

deviates

from

the

ideal

equal

populousdistrict.Districtsthatareoverpopulatedareshadedyellow.Districtsthatare

underpopulatedareshadedblue.Districtsthatarewithinatolerancerangearenot

shaded.Theunderlyinggeographiesareinitiallycolorcodedbytheirpopulation,with

morepopulousgeographiesshadedadarkercolor.Oneofthemappinggoalsisforall

thedistrictstobeunshaded.DistrictshadingscanbeconfiguredinSetMapLayers.

c) TheDistrictToolstabhasausefulLockDistrictsfeaturethatpreventschangestoa

district.Thereareundo/redobuttonsatthetopright.

d) Oncefamiliarwiththesoftware,considerevaluatingtheplanandsharingitwithothers.


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LoggingInDistrictBuildersupportsthreetypesofusers:

1. Thosewhowanttocreatemaps

2. Thosewhosimplywanttoviewothers'maps

3. Thosewhohaveadministrativeprivilegestomanagethewebsite.

Tip:Onlyregistereduserscandrawmaps.

CreatingaUserAccountIfthewebsiteadministratorshaveenabledopenaccesstothesoftware,thesestepswillestablishan

account.Iftheadministratorshavenotenabledopenaccess,theymayrequireprospectiveusersto

requestanaccounttobecreated.

1. Fromthemainpage,clickon"SignUp".

2. Createausernameandpassword.Passwordsmustbe8ormorecharacters,andincludea

number,acapitalletter,andalowercaseletter.

3. DistrictBuilderasksforadditionaloptionalinformation email,name,andaffiliated

organization tohelpusersrecoverlostpasswordsandforadministratorstotrackwhoisusing

thesoftware.ThelatterisimportantsinceDistrictBuilderisfundedentirelybycharitable

foundationsthatliketoknowtheperformanceoftheirsupportedprojects.

4. Clickthecheckboxtoacknowledgeagreementwiththeprivacyandtermsofusepolicies.Click

thelinktoviewthesepolicies.

5. Click"SignUp"andanaccountwillbecreatedforanyuniqueusernameandvalidpassword.

6. Onceanaccountiscreated,newusersaredirectedtotheStep1.Plantab.

MaximumNumber

of

Logged

In

Users

Mapdrawingiscomputationallyintensiveandplacesdemandsonthewebserver.Toensurethatusers

haveagoodexperiencewhiletheyaremapping,DistrictBuilderlimitsthenumberofusersthatcandraw

mapsatanytime.Ifthelimitisexceeded,userswithaccountswhotrytologinreceiveamessageasking

topleasetrylogginginlater.

IfauserisinactiveforaperiodoftimeDistrictBuilderwillautomaticallylogtheuserout.Thegrace

periodforinactivityis15minutesbydefaultbutadministratorsmaychangethisgraceperiod.


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GuestUsers

Forthosewhodonotwishtocreateanaccount,mapsthathavebeensharedbyusersmaybeviewed

andevaluatedbyanonymousGuestusers.Guestuserscannoteditmaps,butcanexplorethem.Anyone

canpastetheURLofaviewablesharedmapintoablogpostorwebsitetodirectothersaccessitasa

Guestuser.

Thereisnomaximumlimitonthenumberofanonymoususers.ToviewplansasaGuestoranonymous

user:

1. Accessasharedmapdirectlyviaalinktotheplan'sURL.

OR

1. Clickthe"EnterasGuest"button.

2. GuestusersarethendirectedtotheStep1.PlanpageandusethePlantabtoselectamapto

view.


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ThePlanStepUponlogginginasaregistereduserorasaguest,usersviewthePlantab.Thisareaofthewebsiteisfor

managingtheredistrictingandcommunityplansavailabletoedit(ifloggedinwithanaccount)orview

(ifvisitingasaguest).

Intheredistrictingworld,aplanisacompletesetofdistrictsforastateorlocality.Registeredusersare

notrequiredtocreateacompleteplanforallthedistricts.Forexample,aplancouldhaveonlyasingle

districtsothatanadvocatecanpresentitasasuggestiontoaredistrictingauthority.DistrictBuilder

treatsallpartialorcompleteplansthesame.Registereduserscanalsocreateacommunitymap,which

sharesseveralcharacteristicswithplansandhasadditionalspecialtaggingfeatures.Itispossibleto

overlayanyplanorcommunitymappubliclysharedbyanotherorprivatetoaregistereduserovera

mapthatisbeingedited.

Aplanmustbeselectedtoeditbeforemappingcanbegin.ThePlantabhasfournumberedstepsthat

selectamap

for

drawing.

1. SelectDistrictLayer

2. SelectPlanType

3. SelectPlan

4. Nametheplan

Thesefourstepsaredescribedindetail,below.


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Step1:SelectLegislativeBody/Layer

Therearetwotypesoflayersthatcanbedrawn:

LegislativeBodiesandCommunities.Often,more

thanone

legislative

body

will

be

available

to

draw.

LayerType1:LegislativeBodies

Thewebsiteadministratorconfiguresormorelegislativebodiestodrawdistrictsfor.Foratypicalstate,

thefollowinglegislativebodieswillbeavailable.

Congressionaldistricts

Statelegislature,upperchamberdistricts

Statelegislature,lowerchamberdistricts

Ifconfiguredforlocalredistricting,countysupervisor,citycouncil,orschooldistrictsmaybe

available.

Administratorsmaymakeotherlegislativebodiesavailableforediting. Administratorsconfigure

statisticsforlegislativebodiessothatuserscanstartmappingquicklywithouthavingtoconfigure

parametersforeachlegislativechambers'districts,suchastheidealpopulationsizeforthedistrictsand

thetargetnumberofminorityopportunitydistricts.Onlyadministratorshavetheabilitytochangethe

availablelegislativebodiesandtheirassociatedstatistics.

LayerType2:CommunityMaps

Communitymapsaredifferentfromlegislativedistrictsinthatcriteriasuchasequalpopulationarenot

appliedtocommunities.Theydonotneedtobecontiguousorcoveranentirestateorlocality.

Communitiescan

be

tagged,

such

as

labeling

them

school

districts

or

incumbent

homes.

Essentially,

an

unlimitednumberofcommunitiescanbedrawn;however,communitiescannotoverlaponeanother.

Overlappingcommunitiescanonlybecreatedthroughmultiple,separatecommunitymaps.


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Step2:SelectPlanTypeThenextstepistoselectoneoffourtypesofplantoedit.

1. Templateplansarepregeneratedplansprovidedby

administrators.Theyarerecommendedstartermaps.Thesemay

bethe

current

plan,

ablank

plan

with

no

geography

assigned

to

a

district,oranyotherplanthatadministratorschoosetodesignate

asatemplate.

2. Sharedplansareplansthatusershavepubliclysharedandare

availabletoeveryonetoviewormakeacopyofandedit.Shared

plansarestatic.Userswhoownasharedplancannoteditit,but

cancreateacopyandeditthecopy.

3. MyPlansareplansthatareprivateandmaybeonlyviewedand

editedbyaregistereduser.Sharedplansownedbyauseralso

appearintheMyPlanslistwithaidentifierthattheplansare

shared.

4. UploadPlansareplansthataregeneratedbyotherredistricting

software,suchasthosepostedbyalegislatureorredistricting

commission,thatcanbeloadedintoDistrictBuildertoview,edit,

andshare.Uploadedplansmustbeinaspecificformat,described

below.

WhenauserclicksonTemple,SharedorMyPlans,thelistofplansintheAction3.SelectPlanpane

changesaccordinglytoshowtheavailableplansineachcategory.


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UploadaPlan

Plansgeneratedusingotherredistrictingsoftware,suchasthoseproducedbycommercialvendors,can

beuploadedintoDistrictBuilder.Thesefilesmustfollowaspecialformat,aformatothersoftware

commonlyproduces.Therearethreeimportantrequirements:

1. Therecordsmustfollowaspecificformat.

2. Thefilemusthaveanextensionendingin.csv.

3. Thefilemustbezipped.


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UploadPlanRequirements

UploadPlanRequirement1:

Recordsmustconformtoaspecialformat.Hereisanexampleofhowtherecordsmustlook:

517000323003033,2511990510003000,2

511990505001007,2

510950801014019,2

511990510001189,2

517000315003007,2

Thefirst15charactersisauniqueidentifierforeachcensusblock.Itisaconcatenationofthestate,

county,tract,andcensusblockcodes.

Tip:thesecodesmustbeinstringformat.Iftheyareinanumericformat,leadingzerosmaybe

truncated.Ifthisinformationisloadedintoanotherfile,suchasaspreadsheetlikeExcel,becarefulto

preservethisuniqueidentifierasastring.

Optional:Athirdcommadelimitedfieldcanbeaddedtoeachlinethatidentifiesthenumberofseats

assignedtoadistrict.Thisisforuseinstateswherethesoftwarehasbeenconfiguredtosupportmulti

memberdistricts.


Thefilemusthavea*.csvextensionforthefilename.Forexample,thefilename"foo.csv"is

acceptable.Theextension*.csvisacommonnamingconventionfordatafileswithacommaseparated

valueformat.


Thefile

must

be

zipped,

or

compressed.

There

are

many

free

programs

that

zip

files.

Howtouploadaplan

1. SelecttheUploadPlantabtoviewtheuploaddialogueboxes.

2. Clicking"Browse..."willopenadialogueboxthatwillaidlocatingafiletouploadonauser's

localcomputer.

3. Selectthelegislativebodytouploadaplanfor.

Optional:Provideanemailtoreceiveanemailnotificationwhentheuploadiscomplete.The

emailmayalsoprovideaerrormessageifaplanfailstoupload,withadescriptionofthe

upload

failure.

Note

that

the

administrators

must

enable

mail

software

on

the

web

server

for

DistrictBuildertosendanemail.

4. Nametheplanintheboxlocatedintheupperrightcorner.

5. Press"UploadPlan".

DistrictBuilderwilltakeafewminutestouploadandprocesstheplan.Theamountoftimedependsona

numberoffactors,includinghowmanyotherpeoplearecurrentlyusingDistrictBuilder. Ifanotification


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emailisnotreceived,checkyourMyPlanslistinafewminutestoseeiftheuploadedplanisvisible.

DistrictBuildercanbeusedtoperformotheractionswhileaplanisbeinguploaded.

DownloadPlan

Thereare

three

methods

to

download

aplan.

The

first

method

is

available

on

the

Step

1.

Plan

tab.

The

secondmethodisavailablefromtheStep2.Drawtab.ThethirdmethodisontheStep4.Sharetab.

Method1:DownloadfromtheStep1Plantab

Onceaplanisselected(seeAction3.SelectPlan,

below),a"RequestFile"buttonisvisible.Clickonthis

buttonandthesoftwaregeneratesafiletodownload

inthesameformatasdescribedintheUploadPlan

instructions.

ItmaytaketheDistrictBuilderafewminutesto

generatethe

requested

file.

Once

afile

has

been

requestedonce,itiscachedandisavailablefor

downloadimmediatelywhensubsequentrequests

aremade.Whenthefileisreadyfordownload,a

dialogueboxwillopenguidingauserwheretosave

thefileontheirlocalcomputer.

Method2:DownloadfromtheStep2.Drawtab

AfilefordownloadmayberequestedfromStep2.

Drawtabbyclickingonthe"Export"iconintheupper

righthandcornerofthedashboardandselecting"Raw

Data."NotethataPDFofthecurrentmapviewanda

shapefilecanalsobedownloadedhere.


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Method3:DownloadfromtheStep4.Sharetab

AfilefordownloadmayberequestedfromtheStep4.Sharetabbypressingthe"RequestFile"button.

Step3:SelectPlanOnceAction2.SelectPlanTypehasbeenselected,plansavailableforeditingaredisplayedintheAction

3.SelectPlanarea.Thenameoftheplan,theauthor,andthelasteditingdate/timearedisplayed.For

"MyPlans"acheckboxisalsodisplayedidentifyingifaplanisasharedplan,visibletoeveryone,anda

trashcaniconisdisplayedthatwilldeleteaplan,ifdesired.


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NavigatingListsofAvailablePlans

AvailableplanscanbesortedbyclickingontheName,Author,andLastEditedheaders.MyPlansmay

alsobesortedbysharedstatus.

Iftherearemanyplans,navigationbuttonsatthebottomofthelistofplansareavailable.Clicking>

movesforward(orbackward)onepageofplans,Clicking|movestotheend(orbeginning)pageof

plans.Entering

apage

number

and

pressing

return

jumps

to

that

page

in

the

list

of

plans.

AplanmaybesearchedbyenteringthesearchstringintothetextboxintheupperrightoftheSelect

Planareaandpressingreturn.

DeletingPlans

OwnedplansmaybedeletedbyclickingonAction2.SelectPlanType,MyPlanstabandclickingthe

trashcaniconnexttotheplanname.Aconfirmationisrequestedtodeletetheplan.(Tip:Becareful!It

maybedifficultorimpossibleforadministratorstorecoveradeletedplan.)

Step4:

Name

aNew

Plan/Start

Drawing

WhenaTemplateorSharedplanisselected,the

planmustbegivenanewnamebefore

continuing.Todoso:

1. Enterthenametocalltheplanintheboxin

thelowerrighthandcorner.

2. Press"StartDrawing"tobeginmapediting.

AplanselectedfromtheMyPlanslisthasalreadybeengivenaplananame,sothisstepdoesnotneed

toberepeated.Inthiscase,twooptionsarepresented:toedittheplanandtomakeacopy.

Toedittheselectedplan:

1. Selectthe"EditSelectedPlan"radiobutton.

2. Press"StartDrawing".


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TocreateacopyofaplanthatisintheMyPlanslist

whichmaybeusefultoexploredifferentoptions

whilepreservingamappingsavepoint performthe

followingactions:

1. Selectaplan

from

the

My

Plans

list.

2. Clicktheradiobutton"CopyandSave

SelectedPlan".

3. Namethenewplan.

4. Press"StartDrawing"

EditPlanDescription

Ifanexistingplanisselectedfromtheplanlist,

additionalinformation

in

the

Plan

Details

area

will

be

availablethatdescribestheplan:theowner,thetime

stampofwhentheplanwaslastedited,ifitis

shared,thenumberofdistrictsinit,anda

"Description."

Ifaplanisownedbyauser,theusermayeditthe

Descriptionbyclickingthe"EditDetails"button.

Doingsoallowstheusertoenterormodifytextin

theDescriptionbox.Whensatisfiedwiththenew

Descriptiontext,

click

the

"Save"

button

that

appears

afterclicking"EditDetails".


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TheDrawStepAfteraplanhasbeenselectedtoeditorview,theStep2.Drawtabappears.Here,toolsformanaging

whatisvisibleinthemaplayers,editingdistricts,manipulatingdistricts,anddistrictstatisticsare

available.Alloftheseareimportantfeaturestounderstandastheyfacilitatethedrawingofalegal

redistrictingplan.


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MapLegendPerhapsthefirstthingthatmaybenoticedaboutamapisthatdistrictsarecoloredcoded.Closer

examinationrevealsthatthecountiesandothergeographiesthatunderlaythedistrictsarealsoshaded.

Thesecolorsareintendedtoprovideuserswithcluesandtoolsthatenablethedrawingoflegal

redistrictingplans.

TheMapLegendbuttononthelowerrightcornerofthemapprovides

alegendoftheinformationdisplayedaboutthedistrictsandthe

underlyinggeography.

Thedisplayedinformationisdescribedbelowinmoredetail.

Essentially,thereisinformationabouttheunderlyinggeographiesthat

districtsarecreatedoutofandinformationaboutthedistricts

themselves.


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MapLayersThedistrictboundariesandboundariesoftheunderlyinggeographies

aredrawnoutofareknownasMapLayers.Althoughnotimmediately

visiblewhenfirsteditingdistricts,DistrictBuildercanalsooverlay

additionalreferencelayerssuchascommunitymapsandother

redistrictingplans.

The

map

layers

can

be

configured

by

clicking

on

theSetMapLayersicon.

ClickingontheSetMapLayersiconintheupperleft

handcornerrevealstheChooseMapLayerspopup

window.Thefollowingoptionsareavailable:

1. Changehowthecountiesandotherunderlying

geographiesthatareselectedtobuilder

districtsoutofareshaded.

2. Changehowthedistrictsareshaded.

3. Showotherboundariesasreferencelayers.

ShadingUnderlyingEditableGeographyThefirstpulldownboxintheChooseMap

Layersdialogboxchangeshowtheeditable

geographiesareshaded.Bydefault,countiesand

othereditablegeographiesareoftenshadedbytheir

totalpopulation.Thesameistrueforanyother

editablegeographiessuchascensustracts,census

blocks,orprecinctsandwards(theavailable

geographiesaredeterminedbytheadministrators).

Theallowable

shadings

will

vary

with

the

available

dataineachstateorlocality.Itispossibletoturnoff

theshadingsbyselecting"None"whichmaybeuseful

iftocreateprintablemaps.


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Typically,theunderlyinggeographiesmaybeshadedbycensusandpoliticaldata.Inanexamplefora

VirginiaDistrictBuilderimplementation:

TotalPop.isthetotalnumberofpersonsinadistrict.Thefederalandsomestateconstitutions

requirethatdistrictshaveequalpopulation thedegreeofequalitydependsonthetypeof

district(congressionalorstatelegislative)anduponstatelaw.

BlackVAPandHisp.VAParetheBlackandHispanicVotingAgePopulation(BlackandHispanic

areCensusBureauterms).Thevotingagepopulationincludeseveryoneage18andolder.The

numberofminoritiesofvotingagewithindistrictsisanimportantstatisticfordistricts

tocomplywiththefederalVotingRightsActorsimilarstaterequirements.Theadministrator

mayenableshadingofgeographiesbyotherracialandethniccategories,too.

%DemGov.'09,TwoPartyisanexampleofelectiondatathatmaybeavailable.Typicallyin

redistricting,statewideracesareusedtoevaluatetheunderlyingpartisanstrengthofdistricts,

whichisonefactortodeterminingwhichparties'candidatesarefavoredtowinwithinadistrict.

"TwoParty"

means

the

vote

for

the

Democratic

and

Republican

candidates

only

this

is

typical

inredistrictingasthevotesharesforthemajorpoliticalpartiesareusuallythemostmeaningful

totheelectionoutcome.Theadministratorsmayenableshadingofgeographiesformore

electoralcontestsandvotesforminorpoliticalparties.

Pleasekeepinmindthatthereisawealthofracial,ethnic,andpoliticaldatathatcanbemadeavailable.

TheseareillustrativeexamplesusedforaredistrictingcompetitioninVirginia.

TheshadingdefinitionsforthegeographiesarevisiblebyclickingtheMapLegendbuttoninthelower

righthandcornerofthemapeditingarea.

ShadingDistricts

The second pull down box in the Choose Map

Layers dialog box changes how districts are shaded.

By default, districts are usually shaded by their total

population -- and how close they are to the ideal

population for that legislative body.

Tip: The ideal population size of a single member

district is the total population of the state divided by

the number of districts in the legislative body.

The administrators may enable districts to be shaded

by other values, such as the districts' compactness

and contiguity status. Districts may also be chosen tohave no shading, which may be useful to create

printable maps.


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Themapbelowillustrateshowdistrictsmaybeshaded.Here,districtsareshadedbyhowclosetheir

totalpopulationistotheidealequalpopulationdistrict.Thegold(orblue)coloreddistrictsareabove

theidealequalpopulation,withdarkercolorsindicatingthatthedistrictsarefurtherfromtheideal.A

districtthatisnotshadediswithintheequalpopulationtolerancerangesetbytheadministrators.

TheshadingdefinitionsfordistrictsisavailablebyclickingtheMapLegendbuttoninthelowerright

handcornerofthemapeditingarea.

ShowReferenceLayers

Referencelayers

are

geographies

that

can

be

displayed,butcannotbeuseddirectlytoedit

districts.Theboundariesofreferencelayerscan

berespectedbyselectingeditablegeography

containedwithinthem,sotheycanbeusefulto

indirectlyguidemapping.Areasonwhyreference

layerscannotbeusedtoeditdistrictsdirectlyis

thatthattheyarenotguaranteedtobenested

withinthehierarchicalgeographiesofthe

DistrictBuilderdatabase.Allowingeditingofnon

nestedgeographieswouldsignificantlyslowthe

performanceof

DistrictBuilder.

Therearetwotypesofreferencelayers,thosethat

areeditablegeographiesandthosethatareof

otherexistingmaps,betheyredistrictingplansor

communitylayers.


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ShowReferenceLayers EditableGeographies

Whenzoomedin,lowerlevelsofgeography

appearforediting;forexample,counties,

censustracts,precincts,andcensusblocks.

Theboundariesforgeographiesotherthan

theone

currently

editable

can

be

displayed

bychoosingtheavailablegeographiesinthe

thirdpulldownboxChooseaReference

LayerintheChooseMapLayersdialog

window.Theadministratorsselectthe

availablereferencelayersforviewing.

ShowReferenceLayers LegislativeDistrictsorCommunityMaps

Otherlegislativedistrictsorcommunitymapscanbedisplayedasreferencelayersbyclickingon

theChoosealegislativedistrictorcommunitymapreferencelayerbuttonintheChooseMap

Layersdialogwindow.

Clickingthisbuttonrevealsafilemanagerthatissimilarincharactertotheplanchooserdescribedin

Step1.

Plan.

From

here,

select

aredistricting

plan

for

alegislative

body

or

acommunity

map

that

either

auserisprivatelyworkingonorthatotherusershaveshared.


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Toselectareferencelayerfordisplay,

chooseoneoftheavailablemaptypeson

theSelectPlanTypedropdrownbox.Usually

thesewillbecongressionalplans,state

legislativeplans,andcommunitymaps.By

default,congressional

plans

will

be

typically

displayed.

Onceaplantypeisselected,theSelectPlan

toDisplayasReferenceLayerwillpopulate

withalistofavailableplans.Theplanscanbe

sortedbytheusernameandplannameby

clickingonthecolumnheaders.Usethe

navigationbuttonsatthebottomoftheplan

listtodisplayadditionalplans.

Whensatisfiedwiththeshadingofthemap

editingenvironmentandthelayertodisplay,

clickontheOKbuttontoreturntomapping.

Ifareferencelayerisselected,itsnamewill

bedisplayedintheMapTransparencyDialog

Boxlocatedintheupperrighthandcornerof

themappingarea.


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ZoomandPanToolsThegeographiclayerthatcanbeeditedistiedtothezoomlevel.Whenzoomedfarout,onlycounties

orthelargestlocalgeography arevisibleforediting.Whenzoomedinothereditablegeography

becomeavailable,suchascensustracts,VotingTabulationDistricts(agenerictermforprecincts,wards,

electiondistricts,etc.),andcensusblocks.

DistrictBuildertiestheeditablelayertothezoomlevelsincethisavoidsaproblemofshowingthemany

censusblocksforanentirestate.Alargeamountofdatamustbesentthroughtheinternetandslows

DistrictBuilder'sperformanceconsiderably.

PanToolTomovetheviewareainanorth/south/east/westdirectionclickonthearrowson

thenavigationbuttonslocatedintheupperlefthandcornerofthemappingarea.

Themousemayalsobeusedtopan.Todoso:

1. ClickthePanTool(thehandiconontheEditMaptools).Thisisthedefaulteditingtoolwhenfirstenteringthemappingscreen.

2. Clickonthemappingareaandholddownthemousebutton.

3. Movethecursorwhileholdingdownthemousebuttontodragthemap.

ZoomTools

Therearethreewaystochangethezoomlevel.

ZoomSliderToolTozoominaboutoutusingthezoomslidertoollocatedintheupperlefthand

cornerofthemappingarea,clickontheplusorminussigntozoominorout,

respectively.Or,clickonthesliderandmoveittothedesiredzoomlevel.

MapExtantToolToquicklychangethezoomlevelbacktotheentirejurisdiction,alsocalledthe

extent,clicktheroundiconatthecenterofthenavigationbuttons.


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MarquisZoomTool

Thisisperhapsthemostusefulzoomtool,andthereisnoassociatediconthatidentifiesitsexistence.

Toquicklyzoomtoanareausingthemarquiszoomtool:

1. ClickthePanTool(thehandiconontheMapEditingtools).Thisisthedefaulteditingtoolwhen

firstenterthemappingscreen.

2. Whileholdingshift,clickonthemappingareaandholdtheleftmousebutton

3. Movethecursorwhilecontinuingtoholdthemousebutton.

Arectanglewilldisplayonthemap.Thisrectanglerepresentstheareawillbezoomedto.When

satisfiedwiththeareatozoomto,releasethemousebuttonandDistrictBuilderwillzoomtothe

selectedarea.

Map

Transparency

Displayedunderneaththedistrictsorcommunities,editablegeographies,andreferencelayersisamap

layerofroads,cities,andotherfeaturesthatprovideshelpfulcontexttoamappingsession.

Thetransparencylevelofthedistrictsandtheeditablegeographiescanbeincreasedordecreasedby

movingtheroadstransparencysliderintheMapTransparencydialogboxfoundintheupperrightof

themappingarea.

Ifareferencelayerisselected,itsnamewillbedisplayedintheMapTransparencydialogbox.

Optional:InsomeDistrictBuilderimplementationsthebasebackgroundmapcanbechangedamong

thosetheadministratorhasmadeavailable,suchas:OpenStreetMap(orosm),GoogleMaps,andBing

Maps.SelectapreferredstreetmapbyclickingontheappropriatebuttonontheSetMapTransparency

dialogbox.LicensingrestrictionsexistforGoogleandBingmaps,sotheadministratorsmaychoosenot

tomakethesemapsavailable.


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MapToolSets

Twosetsofmappingtoolsareavailableintwotabsatthetopofthemappingarea.

1. MapEditingtoolsareforselectingandassigningeditablegeographiestodistricts.

2. DistrictToolsareadditionalmappingutilities.Selecttoolsetbyclickingonthedesiredtab.

Fivetoolsareavailabletobothtoolsets:thePanTool,InfoTool,UndoandRedo,andExport.

ThePanToolMovethemapviewwiththePanTool.Selectthehandicon,clickandhold

downthemousebutton,andmovethecursor.

TheInfoToolTheInfoToolreportsthenameandthecensusandpoliticaldataassociated

withaneditablegeographybyclickingonit.

Undo/RedoEditAnyeditcanbeundonebyusingtheUndo/RedoTools.Theiconontheleftwill

undoaneditandtheiconontherightwillredoanedit.Undoandredoof

multipleeditsisallowed.

Ifaneditismadeafteranundoactionisperformed,theredoactionwillno

longerbe

available.

TheUndo/Redohistoryiscleareduponloggingoutofamappingsession.

ExportMapsandDataToolThreetypesofinformationareavailableforexportfromthe

Exporticononthetoprightofthemappingdashboard:

1. Print:GeneratesaPDFofthecurrentmapview,which

canbeusedforprintingandotherpurposes.(Adobe

Readerrequired,availableat:

http://get.adobe.com/reader/).

2. Shapefile:Aspecialelectronicrepresentationofa

redistrictingplanorcommunitymap.Shapefilesarea

commonformatusedbygeographicinformation

systemssoftware.Shapefilesmaybeusefulwhenthe

creationofspecializedmapsarerequired,forexample,


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forpublicationinanewspaper.(Forthosewithout

commercialGISsoftware,tryafreewareopensource

GISprogramcalledQuantumGISavailableat:

http://www.qgis.org/).

3. RawData:

A

special

text

format

that

associates

each

districtorcommunitywithacensusblock.Pleasesee

theUploadandDownloadplanfeaturediscussed

aboveforafulldescription.

MapEditingToolSetThe Map Editing tools are designed for selecting and assigning editable geographies to districts. The

mapping task is divided into two steps. First, editable geographies are selected and second they are

assigned to districts. There are two different types of tools for this task, selection tools and assignment

tools.

Tip: While selection and assignment tools can be simultaneously selected, it is important to remember

these are two different types of tools. If the software appears to behave unexpectedly, it can be often

useful to review the selection and assignment tools.

SelectToolsThe three Select Tools are to select geographies for assignment to a district. Individual editable

geographies or collections of editable geographies can be selected, depending on the tool.

If a large number of geographies are selected using any selection tool, an error message prompts to

select fewer geographies. DistrictBuilder will slow significantly if too many geographies are selected.

When working at the census block level, it is often easy to select (and fail to select) many geographically

small zero-population road and water segments, so be careful when working at this level. Often, a clue

that something has happened is that a district's statistics are updated to indicate the district is non-

contiguous. DistrictBuilder provides additional District Tools to help with the sometimes tedious task of

locating unassigned geographies.

TheSingleSelectToolTheSingleSelecttoolselectsasinglepieceofgeographyforassignmentbyclickingonit.

Todoso:

1. ClicktheSingleSelecttoolicon.

2. Clicktheeditablegeographytoselectit.

Additionalgeographies

can

be

added

to

aselection

by

holding

down

"shift"

while

clicking

onmoregeographies.


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TheRectangleSelectToolTheRectangleSelectToolselectsagroupofgeographiesforassignment.Todoso:

1. ClicktheRectangleSelecttoolicon.

2. Clickandholdthemousebuttonoverthedesiredareatoselect.

3. Whileholding

the

mouse

button,

drag

the

pointer

over

the

desired

area

to

select.

4. Arectanglewillbevisible.Whensatisfiedwiththeselectionarea,releasethe

mousebutton.Allgeographiesthattouchtherectangleareselected.

ThePolygonSelectToolThePolygonSelecttoolselectsagroupofgeographiesforassignmentusingafreehand

drawingtool.Todoso:

1. ClickthePolygonSelecttoolicon.

2. Clickandholdthemousebuttonoverthedesiredareatoselect.

3. Whileholdingthemousebutton,dragthemouseoverthedesiredareatoselect.

UnliketheRectangleSelectTool,afreehandshapeisdrawn.

4. Theselectionareaistracedout.Whensatisfiedwiththeselectionarea,releasethe

mousebutton.Allgeographiesthattouchtheselectionareaareselected.

Assignment

Tools

Theheartofredistrictingmappingisassigningselectedgeographiestoadistrict.

Therearetwomethodsthatperformthistask:

1. TheAnchorDistrictassignmenttool.

2. TheClickandDragassignmenttool.

TheAnchorDistrictassignmenttoolisalsothetooltocreatenewdistricts,iftherearestillemptyslots.

Thenumberofdistrictslotsissetbytheadministratorandtypicallywillnotexceedthemaximum

numberofdistrictsforaparticularlegislativebody.


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TheClickandDragTool

TheClickandDragassignmenttoolallowsusersto"grab"anyselected

geographyand"drag"itintoadifferentdistrictthatonewishestoassignit

to.Todoso:

1. Useaselection

tool

to

select

editable

geography.

Once

the

geographyisselected,itwillbehighlightedinyellow.

2. ClickontheClickandDragicon.

3. Movethemouseovertheselectedgeographyandthepointer

arrowchangestoafourpointedarrow.Leftclickonthe

geographyandaclosedhandwillappear.Theselectioncannow

be"dragged"ontoadifferentdistrictthanitiscurrentlyassigned

to.Whenthemousebuttonisreleasedthegeographywillbe

assignedtothenewdistrict.

Tip:A

common

error

occurs

when

dropping

the

geography

back

into

the

district

it

is

currently

assigned

to.Whenthishappens,DistrictBuilderdisplaysthemessage"NoDistrictsUpdated."


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CreateaNewDistrictSometimespeopleprefertostartmappingfromablankmaporareworkingforapartiallycompleted

map,perhapsbecausetheyhaveremovedadistrictinaslowgrowingareaofastate.TheAnchor

Districtassignmenttoolisalsousedtocreateanewdistrict.Tocreateanewdistrict,anavailabledistrict

numbermustbeavailabletoassignselectedgeographyto.

Ifthemaximumnumberofdistrictsisreached,adistrictnumberslotcanbefreedupbythreemethods:

1. AssociatetheAnchorDistrictassignmenttooltounassigned.Selectallofadistrict'sgeography

andchangeittounassigned.

2. UsetheUnassignDistricttooltounassignallofadistrict'sgeographyinonestep.See

theUnassignDistricttool,describedbelow.

3. Incertaincircumstancesadistrictnumbermaybealreadyavailable.Forexample,suchadistrict

maybe

available

in

astate

that

has

gained

one

or

more

congressional

districts

and

the

starting

mapisthecurrentcongressionaldistricts.

Intheexampletotheleft,District6isavailablefor

assignment.

ToassigngeographytoanewDistrict6,performthe

followingsteps:

1. Useaselectiontooltoselecteditable

geography.

2. FromthedropdownlistintheAnchorDistrict

AssigningToolselect"NewDistrict"

Tip:Remembertoselectthegeographyfirst!

3. Apopupwindowappearsrequestingthenew

districttoassignthegeographytoamongthe

availableslots.Intheexample,thereisonlyone

option,District6.Selectthedistricttoassignthe

geography

to

and

click

"OK".


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DistrictToolsSet

TheDistrictToolssetmaybeaccessedbyselectingtheDistrictToolstab.Theseareutilitytoolsthat

assistmapediting.

LockDistrictTool

TheLockDistricttoolallowsuserstoclickonadistrictandtoggleitbetweenbeing

lockedandunlocked.Alockeddistrictcannotbeedited.Lockeddistrictsarehighlighted

inred.Thisistoolisusefulwhenasatisfactorydistricthasbeencreatedandprevents

inadvertentchangesmadetoit.

TheLockDistrictcancausedelaysinselectingeditablegeographies.Whenageography

isselected

that

includes

or

is

bounded

by

one

or

more

locked

districts,

DistrictBuilder

mustidentifyallintersectinggeographieswiththelockeddistrict.Ifsignificantslowing

occurs,unlockadjoiningdistricts,ifpossible.

Tip:TheLockDistricttoolisalsousefultoquicklyselecteditablegeographysplitby

districts.Forexample,toassigntheportionofacountysplitbytwodistricts,lockoneof

thetwodistrictsandselectthecounty.Onlytheunlockedgeographywithinthecounty

willbeselected.

Tip:TheLockDistricttoolcansometimesbeusefultofindstraynoncontiguouspieces

ofdistricts.Theredoutlineoflockeddistrictsmaybemorevisiblethantheunlocked

goldcolored

outline.

A

highlight

district

tool

on

the

statistics

bar,

discussed

below,

is

alsousefulforthistask.

DistrictInfoTool

TheDistrictInfotoolshowsthedistrictnumberoftheselecteddistrict.TheDistrict

Infotoolisusefulwhendistrictlabelsarenotbevisibleorreadilyapparent,particularly

whenzoomedin.

UnassignDistrictTool

TheUnassign

District

unassigns

the

geography

associated

with

an

entire

district.

This

is

usefulwhenusedinconjunctionwithcreatinganewdistrictusingtheAnchor

DistricttoolorwhenusingthedistrictCopyandPastetool,whichbothrequirean

unassigned"slot"tocopyadistrictinto.Todoso:

1. ClicktheUnassignDistricticon.


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2. Clickonthedistricttounassign.

3. Aconfirmationmessageappearsinapopupbox.

Tip:UsetheUndotooltoundoanyedit,includingunassigninganentiredistrict.

DistrictCopyandPasteTool

TheCopyandPastetoolcopiesanentiredistrictorsetofdistrictsfromaviewableplan:any

planintheTemplate,Shared,orMyPlansfilelistings.

Anemptydistrictslottocopythedistrictintomustbeavailable.DistrictBuilderisconfiguredto

drawaspecificnumberofdistrictsforalegislativebody,determinedbytheadministrator.

ClickingontheCopyandPasteToolwhenatthemaximumnumberofdistrictswillproducea

warningmessagethatthemaximumnumberofdistrictshasbeenreached.Tofreeadistrict

slot,

either

use

the

Unassign

District

tool

to

quickly

unassign

all

editable

geographies

associatedwithadistrictorusetheDistrictAnchortooltomanuallyunassignthealleditablegeographies

associatedwithadistrict.

Tip:IdentifythespecificplananddesireddistricttocopyfrombeforeusingtheCopyand

Pastetool.Thereisapreviewmapthathighlightsdistricts,butgeographicallysmalldistricts,

particularlyinurbanareas,maybedifficulttodistinguishfromoneanother.

Ifanemptydistrictslotisavailable,thefollowingmenuispresentedwhentheCopyandPasteiconis

clicked:


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Therearethreestepstocopyingandpastingadistrict.

1. Choosetheplantocopythedistrictfrom.ThelistinginterfaceissimilartotheSelectPlanfile

managementinterface.Planscanbesortedbytheuser,planname,anddateoflastedit.

Navigationbuttonsareavailableifthenumberofplansexceedsonepage.

2. Selectoneormoredistrictsintheplantocopyintothecurrentlyeditedplan.Remember,

enoughfreedistrictslotsmustbeavailabletocopythedistrict(s)into.Apreviewpaneonthe

rightwilldisplayareducedsizeimageoftheselecteddistricttocopy.Notethatworkingwith

smallsizeddistrictsindenselypopulationurbanareas,thepreviewmaynotbeinformative.Itis

recommendedthattheplannameanddistrictnumberstocopyarenotedfrombeforeinvoking

theCopyandPastetool.

3. Whensatisfiedwiththeselection,clickthe"Paste"button.

Whenthe

Copy

and

Paste

tool

is

invoked

the

copied

district

will

overwrite

any

district

in

the

target

plan

thatisnotlockedusingtheLockDistricttool.Often,therewillbeunassignedgeographyleftoverafter

aCopyandPasteprocedureiscompleted.Itisrecommendedthesegeographiesareassignedsoonafter

acompletingaCopyandPasteprocedureastheymayotherwisebeforgotten.

Tip:UsetheUndotooltoundoanyedit,includingoneusingtheCopyandPastetool.


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IdentifyingSplitGeographiesDistrictBuildercancalculatethenumberoftimesdistrictssplitgeographies,suchascounties,

communities,ordistrictsforotherlegislativebodies.TheShowSplitsandGenerateSplitsReportare

usefultoolstodrawdistrictsthatminimizethenumberofsplitswithanyeditablegeographysuchasa

county,publiclysharedorprivatelyavailableredistrictingplan,publiclysharedorprivatelyavailable

communitymap,oranyboundarythatcanbeshownasareferencelayer.

ShowSplits

IfareferencelayerhasbeenselectedusingtheSetMapLayers,clickingtheShowSplits

iconwillvisuallyshowalldistrictsthatsplittheselectedreferencelayer.Thedistrictswill

behighlightedinblueonthemapandthestatisticssidebar.Thebluehighlightscanbe

removedbyclickingonthedistrictonthestatisticssidebar.

GenerateSplitsReport

ClickingtheGenerateSplitsReporticonwillinvoketheSplitsReportdialogbox.TheGenerate

SplitsReport

creates

alist

of

all

the

geographies

split

by

each

district,

with

additional

options

describedbelow.


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SelectReferenceLayerforReport(Default)Uptothreereferencelayerscancomparedagainst

thecurrentplan'sdistrictstoidentifysplitswiththose

geographies.Bydefault,oftencountiesandatleast

onelowerlayersuchascensustractsorVTDs(i.e.,

precinctsandwards theCensusBureaugenerically

callstheseVotingTabulationDistrictsorVTDs)are

availableforasplitsreport.

IfareferencelayerhasbeenselectedusingtheSet

MapLayers,suchasanotherredistrictingplan

includingoneforanotherlegislativebody ora

communitymap,theselectedreferencelayerisalso

availableforasplitsreport.

ReverseSplitsDetectionandExtendedReport(Optional)Checkingthereversesplitsdetectionboxproducesa

reportofthedistrictsthatspliteachreferencelayer

geography,insteadofthereferencelayersthatsplit

districts.Intheexample,above,alistofeach

congressionaldistrictsplittingastateSenatedistrictis

generated.

Bydefault,theGenerateSplitsReportgeneratesalist

ofthesplitgeographiesonly.Checkingtheextended

reportwill

generate

areport

of

all

geographies

containedwithinadistrict,bothfullycontainedand

partiallycontainedwithineachdistrict.Inthisreport,

splitgeographiesarehighlightedinredandanasterisk

isplacednexttothegeographyname.Geographies

thatarenotsplitaredisplayedinblack.

Tip:Theextendedreportrequirestwodatabase

queries,onetoidentifysplitgeographiesandoneto

identifynonsplitgeographies.Theextendedreport

maythustakesignificantlylongeramountoftimeto

run.

GenerateaSplitsReport

Whensatisfiedwiththeoptions,clicktheGenerateReportbuttontoproduceareport.

CloseSplitsReportPopupWindow

Toexit,clicktheclosedialogwindow"x"intheupperrighthandcornerofthedialogbox.


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HidingtheStatisticsPaneTheStatisticsPanecanbetoggledonandoffbyclicking

onthearrowbuttonnearthetopleftcornerofthe

StatisticsPane.

Tip:Whenworkingwithsmallcomputermonitorhidethe

StatisticsPanetoprovidemore mapping room.

PlanStatistics

PlanstatisticsarelocatednearthetopoftheStatistics

Pane.Planstatisticsaresummarystatisticsforall

districts.Theplanstatisticscontainthefollowing

information:

PlanName

Thenameoftheeditedplanisatthetop.Inthisexample,theplanis"Mike'sCongressional".

Score

Ascoreisameasurablestatisticthatisdefinedbytheadministrator.Intheexampleprovided,thereare

scoresforhowmanydistrictsarenearthetargetpopulation,howmanydistrictsarecontiguous(i.e.,all

partsofadistrictareconnected),andhowmanydistrictsachievebenchmarksforracialrepresentation

consistentwithsatisfyingtheVotingRightsAct.

Target

Atargetisthevalueforascore.Eachdistrictisevaluatedtoseeifitmeetsthetarget.Forexample,the

targetvaluefortheBlackVAP(votingagepopulation)Majorityscoreis50%ormore,or(>50%).

Districts

Districtsarethecountofdistrictsthatsatisfythetargetforascore.Providedinparenthesesnexttothis

countarethetotalnumberofdistrictsthatmustreachthescorefortheplantobeconsideredavalid

planforinclusioninleaderboards.Intheexampleprovided,thereare11totaldistricts.Allmusthave

equalpopulationandbecontiguous,fortheplanbeingdrawntobelegaltheremustbe11districtsthat

satisfythese

scores,

or

"(of

11)".

AnImportantWordAbouttheVotingRightsAct

Onlyacertainnumberofdistrictsmustbedrawntohaveatargetminoritypopulationthatmaysatisfy

theVotingRightsAct.Inthiscase,theadministratorhasdeterminedthatthereare1Blackand0

Hispanicdistrictswithaminoritypercentageabove50%votingagepopulationthatmustbedrawnthat


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maysatisfytheVotingRightsAct.Thus,thenumberofdistrictsthattheadministratorhasdetermined

mustbedrawnare1or"(of1)"and0or"(of0)",respectively.

ThephrasemaysatisfytheVotingRightsActisusedherebecausetheVotingRightsActisoneofthe

mostcomplicatedaspectsofredistricting.CourtsandtheDepartmentofJusticehavefoundmanystate

andlocal

plans

in

violation

of

the

Voting

Rights

Act.

The

plan

level

statistics

provide

users

with

guidelines

todrawalegalredistrictingplan.However,withoutexhaustivelegalandstatisticalanalysesthatarewell

beyondthecurrentcapabilitiesofanyredistrictingsoftware,itcannotknowifaplanwillstrictlycomply

withtheVotingRightsAct.DistrictBuilderguidesuserstodrawatleasttheminimumnumberof

minoritydistrictssatisfyingthetargetminorityopportunitydistricts,soaplancanbetakenseriouslyby

policymakers.

Usersareencouragedtotrytodrawmoreminoritydistrictsthanthenumberprovidedbythe

administrator.Forexample,UniversityofVirginiastudentsusingDistrictBuilderwereablegobeyondthe

minimumprovidedbytheadministratorfortheirstateSenateplansubmittedtotheVirginia

RedistrictingCompetition.

They

thereby

revealed

that

it

may

be

possible

to

enhance

minority

representationinthatlegislativebody,afactthatnooneknewbefore.Ifmorepeopledrawdistricts,

perhapsopportunitiestoimproverepresentationforallAmericanswillberevealed.

DistrictStatisticsDistrictstatisticsaredisplayedbelowtheplanstatistics

intheStatisticsPane.Districtstatisticsarestatisticsthat

areassociatedwitheachdistrict.

DistrictNumberOnthelefthandsideisthenumberassociatedwitheach

district.

UnassignedGeographyUnassignedgeographyisgivendistrictnumberzero.DisplayingDistrictsWhenworkingwithalargenumberofdistricts,asis

oftenthecaseforastatelegislativebody,itisnot

possibletodisplaystatisticsforeverydistrictatonce.If

therearemoredistrictsthancanfitwithintheStatistics

Pane,asliderbarcanbeusedtoscrollthroughallthe

districts.Whenzoomedallthewayoutsuchthatthe

entirestate

or

locality

is

visible,

all

the

districts

will

be

orderedsequentiallyintheStatisticsPane.When

zoomedintoworkwithagroupofdistricts,

DistrictBuilderpromotesthevisibledistrictsinthe

editingareatothetopofthedistrictlist.Thenonvisible

districtsareorderedbelowthevisibledistrictsandare

grayedout.Intheexampletotheleft,districts2,8,9,

10,and11arenotvisibleintheeditingarea.


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HighlightDistricts

ClickingonadistrictintheStatisticsPanehighlightsthe

districtinblueontheStatisticsPaneandonthemap.

Tip:HighlightingDistrictsisusefulwhenlocatingsmall

noncontiguous

geographies

assigned

to

adistrict,

such

asstreamsorroadmedians.

AvailableStatistics

Theavailablestatisticsarechosenbytheadministratorandaredependentontheavailabledata.

Typically,thesestatisticswillincludetheonesintheexample,above.Somedescriptionsofthe

commonlyavailablestatisticsare:

TotPop

TotPopreferstototalpopulation.DistrictBuildershadesthenumberinasimilarmannerasthe

districts,whendistrictsarecoloredbytheirhowwelltheirtotalpopulationachievespopulation

equality,

which

is

a

redistricting

requirement.

In

the

example

Virginia

congressional

map,

the

target

populationis727,366.Districtsabovethisvalue outsideofathresholdrange haveatotal

populationshadedingoldanddistrictsbelowthisvalueareshadedinblue/green.

Contiguity

Contiguitymeansthatallgeographywithinadistrictconnects.DistrictBuilderperformsasimple

checktoseeifthisistrue.Ifso,adistricthasagreencheckmark.Iffalse,adistricthasared

exclamationpoint.

Tip:Checkcontiguityoften,asitiseasytocreatenoncontiguousdistrictsduringmapping.

Compactness

Therearemanywaystomeasurecompactness.Typicalcompactnessmeasurescompareadistrictto

acircle,whichisconsideredtobethemostcompactshape.Intheexample,DistrictBuilderdisplaysa

compactnessmeasurecalledtheSchwartzbergmeasure,whichcomparestheperimeterofthe

districttotheperimeterofacirclewiththesameareaasthedistrict.TheSchwartzbergmeasure

rangesfrom0%to100%,withmorecompactdistrictshavingahighervalue.Othercompactness

measuresmaybemadeavailablebytheadministrator.


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TotalPopulationandVotingAgePopulationStatistics

TohelpdeterminecompliancewiththeVotingRightsAct,DistrictBuildertypicallyprovidesvoting

agepopulationpercentagesforvariousethnicandracialsubgroups.Similarstatisticscanalsobe

providedforthetotalpopulation.

ElectionStatistics

Tomeasurethepoliticalcharacterofdistricts,DisitrictBuildertypicallyprovideselectionresultsfor

variousofficesaggregatedintoaplan'sdistricts.Electionresultsmaynotbeavailableforsome

statesandalimitednumberofelectionsmaybeavailablewheretheyareprovided.

StatisticsEditor

Duetospaceconstraints,onlyalimitednumberof

statisticscanbedisplayedintheStatisticsPaneatany

onetime.

The

set

of

statistics

to

be

displayed

can

be

changedbyusingthepulldownmenuatthetopofthe

StatisticsPane.Theadministratormaymakesome

statisticsavailablebydefault,usuallycalled"Basic

Information"and"Demographics".Personalized

statisticssetscanbecreated usingEditStats.Inthis

case,thecustomized"VAPdemos"statisticssetis

available.

CreateNewStatisticsSet

To

create

a

new

statistics

set

that

can

be

accessed

by

the

drop

down

menu,

use

the

following

steps:

ClickontheEditStatsbutton.TheEdit

StatisticsSetswindowappears.

Selectupto3statisticsbyclickingonthecheck

boxnexttothedesiredstatistic.Ascrollbaris

availableifallstatisticscannotbedisplayedin

theEditStatisticsSetswindow.Fewerthan3

statisticsmaybeselected,butmorethan3

statisticscannotbeassociatedwithastatistics

set.Allcurrentlyselectedstatisticscanbe

clearedbyclickingthe"ClearChoices"button.

Namethestatisticssetandclick"Save".If

successful,theStep2.Planediting

environmentreappearswiththeStatistics

Panepopulatedbythenewlycreated statistics


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set.

Edit

Statistics

Set

Toeditanexistingstatisticsset,clickonthenameofthestatisticssetinthelistatthebottomofthe

EditsStatisticsSetswindow.Statisticssetcanbemodifiedoracopycanbemadebygivingthestatistics

setanewname.Whensatisfiedwiththechanges,click"Save".

DeleteStatisticsSet

Todeleteanexistingstatisticsset,clickonthegarbagecaniconnexttothestatisticssetname.


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CommunityMapsManystateconstitutionsexplicitlyrequiredistrictstorespectcommunitiesofinterest,andinothers,

redistrictingauthoritiesmayrespectcommunitiesevenifdoingsoisnotrequiredbylaw.The

communitymapfeaturepermitsthepublictodefinetheircommunitiesonamap,sothatredistricting

authoritiescan

consider

them

in

their

mapping

decisions.

AcommunitymapcanbeusedwiththeMapLayerstooltoshowcommunitieswhiledrawinga

redistrictingplan,andwiththeShowSplitsandGenerateSplitsReporttoolstoshowwhendistrictssplit

communitiesorgroupvariousordifferentcommunitiesintoadistrict.

Thecommunitymapfeaturecanbeusedforotherpurposes,too.Forexample,a"community"couldbe

thecensusblocksassociatedwithincumbents'homes.Whenthesehomesareidentifiedasacommunity

maplayer,theGenerateSplitsReporttoolcanshowwhentwoormoreincumbentsareplacedinthe

samedistrict.Ifthepartyaffiliationoftheincumbentsisnoted,thereportwillshowifoneparty's

incumbentsare

disproportionately

grouped

into

districts

where

they

would

face

each

other

in

an

election.

Thecommunitymapfeaturesharesmuchofthesamelookandfeelastheinterfacefordrawinga

redistrictingplan,withsomeimportantdifferencesaredescribedhere.

DrawingaCommunityUnlesstheadministratorhasalreadyprovidedacompletedcommunitylayerasatemplateoranother

user'ssharedcommunitymapisavailable,communitymappingstartsfromablankmap.Thefirststepis

toaddanewcommunitytothismap.Todothis:

1.Use

aselect

tool

to

select

the

geography

to

assign

to

thecommunity.

2.IntheAssigntoCommunitypulldown,select"New

Community".


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3.Next,theCommunityInfodialoguebox

appears.

Threetypesofinformationcanbeentered:

CommunityLabel:

A

name

for

the

community.

CommunityType:Communitytypesare

usedtodeterminewhendistrictssplit

orcombinecommunitiesofsimilaror

differenttypes.Theadministratormay

providedsomesuggesteddefaulttypes,

butusersareallowedtoentertheir

owntypes.Whenanewtypeis

entered,

it

is

available

as

a

community

typesothatitcanbeeasilyassignedto

anothercommunity.

Uptothreedifferenttypescanbe

assignedtoacommunity,byseparating

thetypenameswithacomma.

Remember,typesareusefulfor

determininghowsimilarordissimilar

communitiesaresplitorgrouped.This

informationwillnotbeparticularly

meaningfulifeachcommunityis

assignedauniquetype.

Comment:Anyadditionaltextto

describethecommunity.

4. Click"Save"andthecommunityisadded.

Morecommunities

may

be

added

by

repeating

these

steps.

The

Select

and

Assign

map

editing

tools

can

beusedtoeditcommunities,justastheyareusedtoeditdistricts.


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CommunityStatistics

CommunityList

Onceacommunityiscreatedtheinformationaboutitandothersthathavedrawnispresentedinthe

StatisticsPanetotherightofthemappingarea.


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DisplayingCommunityStatistics

Communitystatistics,suchasracialandpoliticalcharacteristics,maybeviewedusingthepulldowntab

atthetopofthestatisticssidebarontherighthandsideofthemappingarea.EditStatscanbeusedto

choosecustomizedstatisticstodisplayalongwiththosetheadministratorhasmadeavailable.


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TheEvaluateStepTheStep3.Evaluatetabgeneratesastatisticsreportforthecurrentlyselectedmap.


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GeneratingaReportOncethedesiredstatisticshavebeenselected,generateareportbyclickingthe"CreateandPreview

Report"button.Reportsarecomputationallyintensive,sotheymaytakeawhile,especiallyiftherearea

largenumberofusersdrawingmaps.Forthisreason,pleaseusetheevaluationreportssparingly.The

message"Pleasewaitwhilethereportiscreated.Thiswilltakeafewminutes"isdisplayedwhilethe

softwarecalculatestherequestedstatistics.OtheractionscannotbeperformeduntilDistrictBuilder

finishescreatingthereport.

CompletedReport

Onceareportisgenerated,twochoicesareavailablehowtoviewthesestatistics.


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1. Thestatisticswillappearontheright

handwindowpane.Thescrollbarcan

beusedtoscrollthroughthereport

statisticsandthePrevandNext

buttonscanbeusedtopagethrough

theresults

of

the

selected

statistics

for

thereport.

2. Anew"Openreportinanewwindow"

buttonappearswhenareportis

generated.Clickingonthisbutton

openstheselectedstatisticsinanew

browser

window.

Tip:CopyandpastestatisticsintoaspreadsheetprogramsuchasMicrosoft'sExcelbyselectingthe

desiredstatistics,usingthebrowsercopyfunction,andpastingintotheothersoftware.ForExcel,the

statisticswillbenicelyformattedifpastedas"PasteSpecial>UnicodeText".


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TheShareStepTheStep4.Sharetabofferstoolsthatenableuserstosharetheirworkwithothers.Alluserscanaccess

astaticcopyofasharedplan,sothattheycanviewitandcreatetheirownplansusingitinpartorfull.

Allviewableplansmaybeexportedsothatitcanbeloadedintootherredistrictingsoftware,suchas

thoseused

by

official

redistricting

authorities.

Finally,

plans

can

be

scored

for

inclusion

on

publicly

viewableleaderboardswhichshowwhichplansscorethebestonstatisticsdefinedbythe

administrators.


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SharingPlans

Toshareacopyofaplanforotherstoviewand

incorporateintotheirownplans,simplygivea

plananewnameandclickthe"SaveandShare"

button.

Thecreatedsharedplanisastaticcopy,meaningthatitcannotbeedited.Thisistoallowotherusersto

noteexactlywhatplantheymayhaveincorporatedintotheirmaps.

Whenaplanisshared,itisvisibletoallotherusers,bothtouserswhohaveestablishedaccountsand

foranonymousGuestusers.

ActionsThatCanBeTakenwithSharedPlansWhenaplanisshared,alluserswillbeabletoaccesstheplanintheStep 1: Planmenutomakeacopy

oftheplansothattheymayedititthemselves.Otherusersarealsoabletocopyoneormoredistricts

intotheirplanusingtheCopyandPastefeatureavailableintheStep 2: Drawtools.

Furthermore,whenaplanisshared,itisgivenauniqueURLthatcanbeusedtopointothersit,suchas

inablogpostoranemail.

Tip:Ifaplan'sURLisforgotten,itcanbelocatedbylogginginasaGuestandviewingthesharedplan.

TheURLgiveninawebbrowseristhepublicURLoftheplan.WhensomeonefollowstheURL,theyare

immediatelypresentedwiththeStep2.Drawtabforthatplan,withlimitedGuestuserfunctionality.

Guestsmayviewtheplan,browseothersharedplans,usetheevaluationtools,andviewthe

leaderboards.

Plan

Export

Planscanbeexportedinaformat

commonlyusedbyotherredistricting

softwarebyclickingonthe"RequestFile"

button.Itmaytakeafewminutesto

generatethefileifthisisthefirsttimeitis

requested.

Formoreinformation,pleaseseethe

descriptionofthePlanExportfeaturein

theStep1.Plandocumentation.


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VerifyandPostPlanstoLeaderboardsLeaderboardsrankverifiedplansastohowwelltheyachievecertaincriteriadeterminedbythe

administrators.

PlanVerification

Inorder

for

aplan

to

be

compared

to

other

plans,

it

must

be

avalid

plan.

"Valid"

means

the

plan

must:

1. Assignallgeographytoadistrict.

2. Bewithinpopulationdeviationsfromtheidealsizedpopulationdistrictasdeterminedbythe

administrator.Thesetolerancesarethesameusedtocolordistrictsbytheirpopulation.Aplan

withoutanycoloreddistrictswillpastthisverificationtest.

3. Becontiguous,meaningthatalldistrictsmustbeinternallyconnected.DistrictstatisticsinStep

2.Drawindicateifadistrictisnoncontiguous.

4. ...theadministratorsmayrequireadditionalcriteriaforvalidplans,suchasaminimalnumberof

minorityopportunitydistricts.

Toverifyaplan,clickthe"VerifyandSubmitPlan"button.Itmaytakeafewminutesforthesoftwareto

verifyaplan.Ifaplanisnotverified,anerrormessageisgeneratedexplainingwhichcriteriamayhave

failed.


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Onceaplanisverified,itlosesitsverifiedstatusifanyeditsaremadetoit.

LeaderboardsLeaderboardsallowthecomparisonofverifiedplans.Theadministratordetermineswhichstatisticsto

scoreplanson.Theavailableleaderboardsmaydependoncertaingoalsthatareconstitutionally

requiredbyastateorarepartofacontest.


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Theleaderboardsmayincludeoneormoreofthefollowingcriteria:

1. EqualPopulation.Thisscoreiscalculatedbysubtractingthesmallestpopulationdistrictfrom

thelargestpopulationdistrict.Thebestscoringplanisonewithleastpopulationdeviation.

2. AverageCompactness.

This

score

is

calculated

by

averaging

the

district

compactness

of

all

districts.Compactnessmeasuresusuallycompareadistricttoacircle,whichisconsideredthe

mostcompactshape.Thesescorestypicallyvarybetween0and100%,withhighervalues

indicatingamorecompactdistricts.Thus,thebestscoringplanisonewiththehighestaverage

districtcompactnessscore.

3. Competitiveness.Thisscoreiscalculatedbycountingthenumberofdistrictsthatare

"competitive."Thebestscoringplanisonewiththemostcompetitivedistricts.Acompetitive

districtisonewherethereisanearbalanceofDemocraticandRepublicanvoters.The

administratorsdeterminethespecificelection(s)usedtomeasurethepartisancompositionof

districtsand

the

tolerance

range

of

what

constitutes

acompetitive

district.

4. RepresentationalFairness.ThisscoreiscalculatedbysubtractingthenumberofDemocraticor

Republicanmajoritydistricts(whicheverissmaller)fromthenumberofDemocraticor

Republicanmajoritydistricts(whicheverisgreater).Thebestscoringplanisonewiththe

smallestdeviationbetweentheDemocraticandRepublicanmajoritydistricts.The

administratorsdeterminethespecificelection(s)usedtomeasurethepartisancompositionof

districts.Ifaelectionsarenota50/50competitiveoutcome,thepartisancompositionmeasure

maybeshiftedtosimulateahypothetical50/50election.

5. The

administrators

may

make

other

statistics

available.


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Documents

District Builder User Guide 5-1-12