Maptitude P&E Tech Corner

How can I label the borders of my districts with features, names of Streets, etc?

To have Maptitude for Redistricting identify the features that comprise the boundaries of your districts you should do the following:

1. Ensure that the layer TIGER/Line Segment is a layer in your map by going to Map-Layers. If the layer is not in your list, click the Add Layer button, browse to your State's data directory, and add the layer cctgrln.cdf.
2. Make sure that Districts is the Working Layer (the active layer; this appears in the drop-down menu to the left of the printer icon in the toolbar), and choose Tools-Line/Area Conversion.
3. In the Convert Areas to Lines dialog box, type District Lines as the layer name, and check the Add Layer to Map box. After these settings are changed, you may click OK.
4. Change the Working Layer to TIGER/Line Segment.
5. Choose Selection-Select by Location.
6. Fill out the Select by Location (Layer: TIGER/Line Segment) as follows:
   
   Select Based on Features in...
   Layer: District Lines
   Selection Set: All Records
   
   Select TIGER/Line Segment features
   that are: within 0.001 Miles
   
   Place select TIGER/Line Segment features in
   Selection Set: Boundaries
   Selection Method: Create Set
   
7. Click OK after you have made these settings. Please be aware that the selection procedure may take some time (as much as several hours).
8. Choose Selection-Settings and highlight Layer: TIGER/Line Seg... Click the Status button until the status is set to Invisible.
9. Highlight Boundaries and click Labels... Select the Field FENAME, then click OK.
10. When you return to the TIGER/Line Segment Selection Sets dialog box, click Close, and the labels will be drawn on the screen.

**Please note: a variation on this is to label the boundaries for only one district. In order to do this, replace steps 2 and 3 (above) with the following:

2. Make sure that Districts is the Working Layer (the active layer; this appears in the drop-down menu to the left of the printer icon in the toolbar). Select the district you are interested in with the Select by Pointing tool (the blue hand with the pointer in it). Next, select Tools-Line/Area Conversion.
3. In the Convert Areas to Lines dialog box, type District Lines as the layer name, make sure the to use Records Selection, and check the Add Layer to Map box. After these settings are changed, you may click OK.

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