How can I use a Communities of Interest layer with my plan?

By /

Preservation of communities defined by actual shared interests, known as communities of interest, is a traditional districting principle for many localities. If you have a geographic layer that contains communities of interest, you can use the tools in Maptitude for Redistricting to identify and select the blocks in those communities.

Using an Existing Layer to Define Communities of Interest

  1. Open a redistricting map or redistricting plan.
  2. Use Map>Layers>Add Layer to add the communities layer to the map.
  3. Right-click the Census Block layer and choose New Dataview.
  4. Choose Dataview>Table>Modify...
  5. Click Add Field, and enter the Community as the field name, select Character as the field type, and enter 50 as the Width.
  6. Click OK to close the Modify Table dialog and Yes to confirm the changes.
  7. Scroll to the right in the dataview until you see the new field, Community.
  8. Right-click on the Community field heading and choose Fill…
  9. Click the Tag radio button.
  10. Choose the community layer you added to the map in step 2 from the Using layer drop down, and the name field from the Tag with drop down.
  11. Click OK.
  12. Choose Selection>Select by List…
  13. Choose Community from the Field drop down and click OK.
Once you have selected block features that define your communities of interest, you can identify the communities to your plan.
 

Using the Selection Toolbar to Define Communities of Interest

  1. Open a redistricting map or redistricting plan.
  2. Choose Selection>Toolbar to display the standard selection tools.
  3. Make the Census Block layer the working layer by right clicking on it in the Display Manager and selecting Make Working Layer.
  4. Use the Selection Toolbar to select several Census Blocks that comprise a community.
  5. Click the Selection Settings button to open the Census Block Selection Sets window.
  6. Click the set called Selection, click Rename, and name the new set My Community.
  7. Click Close to close the Selection Toolbar.
  8. Go to Redistricting>Settings>Communities of Interest and click Add.
  9. Select Census Block from the Layer dropdown and select My Community from the listed Selection Sets.

 

Using Zillow™ Neighborhoods to Define Communities of Interest

  1. Where XX is your state abbreviation, using a web browser, visit https://github.com/zocoi/zillow_neighborhoods/raw/master/ZillowNeighborhoods-XX.geojson
  2. Right click on the text, choose Save As and browse to a library folder (usually at C:\XX Data 2020 Final where XX is the state abbreviation).
  3. Name the file ZillowNeighborhoods-XX.geojson and click Save.
  4. Open a redistricting map or redistricting plan.
  5. Choose Map>Layers>Add Layer and browse to your library folder.
  6. Select the newly created ZillowNeighborhoods-XX.geojson and click Open.
  7. Click Close to return to the map where ZillowNeighborhoods-XX should be listed as a layer in the Display Manager.
  8. Go to Redistricting>Settings>Communities of Interest and click Add.
  9. Select ZillowNeighborhoods-XX from the Layer dropdown and select ID from the Name field dropdown.

Credit: Zillow
 
Scroll to Top