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Maptitude for Precinct & Election Management
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Maptitude for Precinct
and Election Management (Maptitude P&E) combines sophisticated
software, an easy-to-use interface, and a wide array of customized
data to create a complete precinct and election management solution
for county and state election offices. Use it alone or in
conjunction with your county and statewide
voter registration (VR) software.

Reprecincting
and Redistricting
Maptitude P&E contains a variety of tools for
modifying precinct boundaries. As you select geographic areas
(such as census blocks), the software computes the number of
registered voters being added to the
precinct, along with any other summary fields you have identified.
You can automatically create a list of
registered voters and street segments where the precinct has
changed. (See below for more information on
redistricting features.)
Create
Precinct Maps, Map Books, and Reports
The Precinct Map dialog box makes it easy to zoom to any precinct,
query information about it, print a map, and print a legal
description (metes and bounds report). Create a complete precinct
map book using predefined templates. Design and print Precinct-Voter
reports that list the number of voters per precinct and any other
attributes you wish to include.
Update
Your VR Street Index File in Minutes
Once you have defined your new precinct
boundaries, Maptitude P&E can
automatically update the street index file required by your voter
registration software. You can combine odd
and even ranges, account for precinct splits, and print a sorted
report.
Enhance Voter
Files and Correct Errors
Maptitude
P&E can open and enhance voter files from your VR software.
Sophisticated
geocoding
tools result in a very high match rate. Addresses that don’t
geocode can be "pinned in" using the mouse. The geocoder
automatically adds the precinct code and codes for any other layers
requested by the user (e.g. census blocks, districts, and ballot
styles). Compare the results from Maptitude with
data already in the VR file to identify errors. Once all
voters have been geocoded, you can update voter
and party counts in the block, precinct, district, and ballot
style layers, and any other geographic layers you choose. Since this
information is added to the original voter file, it is immediately
available to the VR software.
Precinct Splits
Maptitude
P&E
intersects the precinct layer with all relevant district layers
(e.g. congressional districts, state legislative districts, county
commission districts, school board districts, etc.) to create a
layer made up of precinct pieces or splits within which all
districts are unique. Each precinct split includes the number of
voters and voters by party.
Unique Ballot
Styles
Create a geographic layer of unique ballot styles based on any
combination of other layers (e.g., congressional districts, state
legislative districts, county commission districts, school board
districts, etc.). Create a map for each ballot style or a map book
for all styles. Print ballot style reports sorted by precinct,
ballot style, district IDs, or number of voters in each style.
Create Street Index/Ballot Style reports and files.
Consolidated Precincts
Create
a consolidated precincts layer that combines precincts that have a
common polling place for a particular election. Each consolidated
precinct lists the number of voters, voters by party, and any other
summary fields you choose such as language and ethnicity. The
consolidated precincts report lists the address and phone number of
the polling place as well as the precincts that vote there.
Update Streets
and Other Geographic Features
Maptitude P&E features full geographic editing. Add, remove, and
realign streets, correct street names, address ranges and ZIP codes,
split census blocks, add invisible features that define precinct
boundaries, and make any other changes to the underlying geographic
layers that are required.
P&E Settings
Dialog Box
The P&E Settings dialog box lets you customize the way Maptitude P&E
works. Use it to identify the precinct map, reprecincting plan,
street file, voter file and settings for geocoding, ballot style
layers, layouts for precinct and ballot style map books, and other
relevant settings.
Built on
Maptitude Technology
Maptitude is a full-featured Geographic Information System that has
set new standards for performance and value. It provides a complete
set of desktop mapping and spatial analysis functions. All Maptitude
features are incorporated into Maptitude P&E. You also receive the
standard Maptitude nationwide geographic data sets including streets
with address information, and states, counties, census tracts, and
other census boundaries with hundreds of demographic variables.
Features include:
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Complete GIS and
mapping capabilities |
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Map editing and
customization |
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Native support for
ArcView Shapefiles, MapInfo files, Oracle, SQL Server, and
most other formats |
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Open data access
(ODBC) |
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Nationwide address
matching and geocoding |
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Internet
publishing tools |
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Feature
selection/geographic queries |
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MapWizard®
automatic mapping technology |
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Geographic
analysis |
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Map Librarian and
Map Locator |
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Statistics |
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Page layouts |
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Importing for all
TIGER layers |
Easy to Learn
and Use
Maptitude P&E includes on-line help and detailed manuals packed with
step-by-step instructions and tutorials. Each task has a
well-designed dialog box that provides access to all related
functions. Wizards help you create maps, display data using
meaningful themes, geocode information based on street address, and
create precinct and redistricting plans. Caliper Corporation offers
hands-on training at your site or at our training facility in
Newton, MA.
Works with
Most Voter Registration and GIS Software
Maptitude P&E opens voter registration files from most VR software,
either directly or using Microsoft Windows ODBC (Open Database
Connectivity). The program creates street index files in several
formats suitable for import into most VR software. Map ArcView
Shape, MapInfo Tab, and Oracle Spatial files without conversion.
Export precinct boundaries and redistricting plans (geography and
data) to these other formats for use with other GIS software.
Publish Your
Precinct Maps and Information on the Internet
Maptitude P&E lets you save your maps, data tables, charts, layouts,
and reports as JPEG, PNG, and HTML files for static Web publishing.
Caliper Corporation’s Maptitude for the WebTM Software makes it easy
to publish your maps as interactive mapping applications on the Web.
For example, users can locate their address on the map, pan and
zoom, display precinct information, and locate their polling place
using a browser.
Other Precinct
and Election Management and Redistricting
Services
Caliper provides consulting services, training, software
customization, geocoding, data manipulation, web design, telephone
support, and on-site support. For more information, contact Howard
Simkowitz, Director, Government Services,
hsimkowitz@caliper.com.
Customized Precinct and Election Management Data CD
Maptitude P&E includes a Precinct and Election Management
data CD customized for your jurisdiction with the following
geographic data:
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Streets with Address Ranges |
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Congressional Districts |
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Blocks |
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State Senate Districts |
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Block Groups |
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State House Districts |
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Precincts or Voting Districts (VTDs) |
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Elementary School Districts |
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Tracts |
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Unified School Districts |
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Counties |
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ZIP Code Tabulation Areas |
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MCDs |
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Landmark Areas |
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Places |
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Key Geographic Locations |
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Indian Reservations |
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Coastal and Inland Water Bodies |
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Urbanized Areas |
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Water landmarks |
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All TIGER/Line Segments with Right and Left Census
Codes |
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Detailed Demographic Data including all P.L. 94-171
Fields |
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Precinct &
Election Management Key Features |
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Update precinct boundaries |
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Create precinct maps, map books, and reports |
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Create street index files for your voter
registration software |
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Calculate unique
ballot styles and precinct splits; create maps and reports |
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Geocode
registered voters and assign them to precincts, districts,
ballot styles, etc. |
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Consolidate
precincts for each election to conserve resources |
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Interface with
most voter registration software and voter files |
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Locate and
correct errors in your voter registration files |
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Analyze
demographic data and provide targeted language assistance |
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Add new streets
to maps |
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Reprecincting/Redistricting
Key Features |
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Create any redistricting plan including precinct,
commission, ward, school, water, etc. |
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Compute control field totals and deviations |
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Select any number of summary data fields, and compute totals
and percents |
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Display the plan statistics in a scrollable window |
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Print standard and user-defined reports |
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Import plans from other GIS formats |
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Export plans to equivalency files |
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Merge sub-plans |
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Verify completeness and district contiguity, and zoom to
problem areas
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Compute measures of compactness |
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Update historical election results to new political
boundaries |
Redistricting Features
Maptitude P&E contains all of the features found in
Maptitude for Redistricting: |
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Create a new plan from a map, a template, or an existing
plan. Include multiple levels of geography, designate the
control field, ideal value, and summary fields, and set
other plan properties including plan type, creation date,
and password protection. |
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Include registered voters, population and race, and
political data in the same plan; one button toggle between
field sets lets you display only the data you want.
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Add areas to a target district using feature selection
tools. Select by pointing, by dragging a circle, by defining
the corners of a polygon (lassoing), and by attribute
values. Select features in any geographic layer, such as
census blocks, voting districts, towns, or school districts.
As you add areas to a district, both the district boundaries
and data table are updated to reflect changes in the current
plan. |
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Display attributes for any layer using labels or color,
pattern, dot-density, scaled-symbol or chart themes. Since
the district boundaries are instantly updated, you do not
have to use a color theme to show district boundaries.
Display summary information in a table that contains the
district identifier, control field totals, deviation from
the ideal value, and the totals and percentages for summary
fields. |
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Lock districts, and keep communities of interest together. |
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Compute measures of compactness, and check for completeness
and contiguity. Zoom to unassigned polygons or discontiguous
portions of a precinct or district. Verify the integrity of
a plan. |
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Export a plan to standard equivalency file formats that can
be read by other redistricting software and the Department
of Justice. Import and merge plans created by Maptitude for
Redistricting or other redistricting software. |
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Capture the current status of a plan as a snapshot. Each
plan can have one or more snapshots organized by date and
time under the same plan name. Return to any snapshot, and
use it as a departure point in the evolution of the plan or
as the starting point for a new plan. |
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Print a completed plan using page layouts that combine maps,
data tables, and charts. The standard report library
includes population summary, error check, political
subdivision splits, incumbents, plan statistics, plan
components, plan comparison reports, metes and bounds, and
more. Create custom reports and add them to the report menu.
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System
Requirements |
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Personal computer
running Microsoft
Windows 2000 or XP |
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128MB RAM |
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Disk space varies
by county (20 MB-1 GB) |
Read a case study by
Connie Schmidt, Johnson County (KS) Election Commissioner (PDF)
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