Assigning Non-Standard Locations

Maptitude P&E Tech Corner

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 precinct?

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.

Voter List

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 unaddressed 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

Open your precinct map by choosing P&E Mgt-Precinct Map.
Choose File-New to display the New File dialog box.
Choose Geographic File from the list of file types, then click OK. Maptitude displays the New Geographic File dialog box.
Click the Point Geographic File radio button.
Type a layer name in the Name text box.
Click the first Option radio button to add the layer to the current map window.
Click OK. Maptitude displays the Attributes for New Layer dialog box.

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.
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.
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
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.
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.

If you do not have the Voter Dataview open, open it by choosing P&E Mgt-Voter Dataview.
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.
Choose Tools-Locate-Locate by Value.
Choose the selection set created in steps 2-3 from the Records drop-down list
Choose the layer created in step 5 of Creating a New Geographic Layer.
Choose the field in the voter file that contains the street name from the Field drop-down list
Choose the field in the new file that contains the feature name form the first Matches drop-down list.
Click OK.

Maptitude for Precinct and Election Management locates the selected voters. 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

The final step is to tell Maptitude for Precinct and Election Management that the voters who live in group quarters have been located.

If you do not have the Voter Dataview open, open it by choosing P&E Mgt-Voter Dataview.
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 P&E Mgt-Settings was called Located.
Click on the field heading Located.
Choose Edit-Fill-Single Value. Type in a value of 1 and click OK.
The final step is to update the number of voters to each of the layers you indentified in the Voter Counts tab of P&E Mgt-Settings. To update voter counts, choose P&E Mgt-Update Voter Counts.

Your voters have been successfully located and updated for Maptitude for Precinct and Election Management. 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 P&E Mgt-Locate Voters.

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