Maptitude P&E Tech Corner

I have precinct geography that does not follow block boundaries. How can I create Block Pieces that can be used as a basis for my new Precincts?

You can use the utilities in MTP&E to assist you in creating block pieces by making some simple changes to the P&E Settings.

Prepare Block Layer and add it to the Precinct Map

1. Choose P&E Mgt-Precinct Map to open your Precinct map.
2. Choose Map-Layers and check to see if the layer Census Blocks appears in the list.  If it does not, add it
3. Once the layer is added click Close.
4. Change the working layer to Census Blocks.
5. If you are updating voter counts, you should add a field to the Census Block layer that has the same name as the field identified in the Voter Counts tab.

For more information about Adding a layer to a map, see "To Add Layers to a Map" in Chapter 4, Layering Features on a Map, in the Maptitude User’s Guide.  For more information on adding a field to a layer, see "Modifying the Structure of a Table" in Chapter 9, Managing Data Tables, in the Maptitude User’s Guide.  To incrementally fill in the record Ids, see "Filling a Range of Cells or Groups of Columns with Data" in Chapter 8 of your Maptitude User’s Guide.

Identify Census Blocks as Ballot Styles in P&E Mgt-Settings

1. Choose P&E Mgt Settings to display the P&E Mgt Settings dialog box.
2. Click the Ballot Styles tab to display the Ballot Styles page.
3. Click Add to display the Choose Layer to Add dialog box.
4. Choose the layer Census Blocks from the drop-down list.
5. Click OK. Maptitude P&E adds the layer to the list of layers
6. Click on Census Block, and choose the field BLK from the Name Field drop-down list.

Create Block Pieces

Now that the Census Blocks layer has been identified as a ballot style layer, you can have MTP&E automatically create block pieces.  To do this you should:

1. Choose P&E Mgt-Update Ballot Styles. Maptitude P&E displays the Update Ballot Styles dialog box.
2. Click the Choose button and browse to the directory where you want to save your block pieces.  Type in the name Block Pieces and click OK.
3. Highlight Census Blocks in the Layers list.
4. Choose any attributes, in addition to number of registered voters, that you want to include in the ballot styles layer. First, select the layer from the Layer drop-down list. Then select the field or fields from the Fields list.

   To do this...	Do this...
   Select the layer	Select the layer containing the field from the Layer drop-down list
   Add a field to the Fields list	Click Add, choose the field from the drop-down list, and click OK
   Remove a field from the list	Highlight the field in the Fields list, and click Drop

5. Click OK.

Maptitude P&E creates or updates the ballot styles layer. If the ballot style layer is not already part of the map, Maptitude P&E adds it to the map. 

Export Block Pieces to a Compact Geographic File that can be used in a redistricting plan

The final step of this procedure is to export the new block pieces to a compact geographic file (.cdf) that can be used as the base layer in a redistricting plan.

1. Make Ballot Styles the working layer.
2. Choose Tools-Export.
3. Choose Compact Geographic File from the To drop-down list.
4. Click OK.
5. Browse to the directory where you want to save the file and name the new file XXXXBlockPieces (where XXXX is the year of the precincts).
6. Click Save

You have now created a layer that can be used as a base layer in a redistricting plan to create new precincts.

 

Back to Tech Corner Support Page