How do I include the Districts layer in one plan as a reference layer in another plan?

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Including District layers from other plans in your current plan can be done as follows:

  1. Create a new directory where you are storing your plans called “District CDFs” (If you already have this directory, skip to step 2).
  2. Close any open plans using Redistricting>Close Plan, and any other open windows using File>Close All.
  3. Open the plan whose District layer you want to use in another plan.
  4. Change the working layer to Districts. This can be done by picking Districts from the drop-down list in the toolbar at the top of the window.
  5. Choose File>Export>Geography to display the Export dialog box. Export All Features to a Compact Geographic File, and click OK.
  6. In the Save As dialog box, choose to save the file to the District CDFs directory you created in step 1, and type a name for the new file. This name can be the same as your plan, if you wish.
  7. Once the export has finished, close your plan with Redistricting>Close Plan.
  8. Open the new geographic file you created using File>Open and changing Files of type to Geographic layer (*.dbd, *.cdf).
  9. Click to display the Layers dialog box.
  10. Highlight your new layer, called Districts, in the scroll list.
  11. Click the Rename button. Type in a new name for the layer (it is recommended the new name be the same as the name of the geographic file) and check the Change Permanently box.
  12. Click OK.
The districts layer can now be added to any other plan as a reference. If you want to add multiple district layers to a plan for reference, repeat the steps above for each of the other district layers.

** Please note that you will need to repeat the procedure above if you make changes to any of the plans that you exported to a Compact Geographic File.

Click here to view a video tutorial of including the Districts layer as a reference layer in another plan.

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