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Q: Some of my
voters live at locations that do not have a normal street address
(dorms, mining camps, military bases). How can I assign them a
geographic location so that I can determine their locations?
A: Some voters
may live in areas that do not have a street address, such as in a
dormitory, on a military base, or in a health care facility. These
locations are generally some type of group quarters rather than a
residential address.
If you know
the location of the points that could not be found and you have a
large number of voters at these locations, it may be more efficient
to create an additional layer that contains the locations of the
unadressed places. You can then use the new layer as a reference so
that Maptitude automatically pin maps voters to the correct
location.
Creating a
New Geographic Layer
1.
Open your political map by choosing
Political-Political Map.
2.
Choose File-New to display the New File dialog box.
3.
Choose Geographic File from the list of file types, then
click OK. Maptitude displays the New Geographic File dialog box.
4.
Click the Point Geographic File radio button.
5.
Type a layer name in the Name text box.
6.
Click the first Option radio button to add the layer to the
current map window.
7.
Click OK. Maptitude displays the Attributes for New Layer
dialog box.
8.
Set up your new table according to the following
instructions:
|
To Do
This… |
Do This… |
|
Add a field |
Click Add
Field to add a new field to the list. |
|
Delete a
field |
Click on the
field you want to delete, then click Drop Field. |
|
Change the
field order |
Click on a
field, then click Move Up or Move Down. |
|
Change a
field name |
Click on a
field and type a name in the Name box. |
|
Use a
display name |
Click on a
field and type a label in the Display Name box. |
|
Change a
field type |
Click on a
field, then choose a type from the Type drop-down list. |
|
Change a
field width |
Click on a
field and type the width in the Width box. |
|
Change the
number of decimals |
Click on a
field and type the number of decimal places in the Decimals box. |
|
Set a
default value in new records |
Click on a
field and type a value in the Default box. |
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Change a
field format |
Click on a
field, then choose a format from the Format drop-down list. |
|
Change a
field description |
Click on a
field, then type a description in the Description box. |
|
Index a
field |
Click on the
field and check the Index box. |
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Change the
aggregation method |
Click
Aggregation to display the Default |
You should
create a new field called Name, that is of Character type, and an
appropriate width to accommodate your data
9.
Click OK to
create a new geographic file with no associated data table, or use
the Attributes for New Layer dialog box to design your table, and
click OK. Maptitude displays the Save As dialog box.
10.
Type
a file name for the new geographic file and click Save.
Maptitude
creates an empty geographic file for the map layer. You are now
ready to use the editing tools to add features to the layer. The
section “Editing Point Features” in Chapter 18 of the Maptitude
User’s Guide contains comprehensive information about adding new
point features. As you add points to the new layer, be sure to edit
the point attributes. The value you enter in the Name field should
match the name of the street in your voter file that was not found.
After you have completed adding points for your group quarters, you
can move on to identifying the voters that were not located and
assigning them locations.
Identifying the Voters that were not Located and Assigning them
Locations
The next task
is to identify all of the voters who were not located. Once they
are identified, you can pin map them to the locations you added in
the file above.
1.
If you do not have the Voter Dataview open, open it by
choosing Political-Voters-Voter Dataview.
2.
Identify the voters who have not been located by choosing
Selection-Select by Condition and enter the following
condtion:
Latitude = null
Highlight the
Set Name and type in Voters not Found. Click OK.
3.
Choose Tools-Locate-Locate by Value.
    
Fill in the
settings as indicated above. Click OK.
Political
Maptitude uses the locations of points you assigned to determine
where voters should be located. We are now ready for the final
step, Updating the Located Field in the Voters File.
Updating
the Located Field in the Voters File and Updating Voter Counts
1.
If you do not have the Voter Dataview open, open it by
choosing Political-Voters-Voter Dataview.
2.
Identify the voters who were located with Locate by Value by
choosing Selection-Select by Condition and enter the
following condition:
Latitude <> null
and Located <> 1
Highlight the
Set Name and type in Voters Found. Click OK. The voters that we
just found using Locate by Value will be put in the new set, called
Voters Found.
** This assumes
the field that you identified as the Located field on the Voters tab
of Political-Settings was called Located.
3.
Click on the field heading Located.
4.
Choose Edit-Fill-Single Value. Type in a value
of 1 and click OK.
Your voters
have been successfully located and updated for PM. If additional
voters register from any of these locations, it will be necessary to
repeat the sections “Identifying the Voters that were not Located
and Assigning them Locations” and “Updating the Located Field in the
Voters File and Updating Voter Counts” after running
Political-Voters-Locate Voters.
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