Tutorial
Getting Started With Districts
On the Districtr homepage, click “Jump to the Map” in the top right corner.You will be redirected to an interactive map of the United States. Click the state for which you wish to make a districting plan. All states are available, as well as Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.Once you have selected a state, you will be directed to its landing page. The landing page contains all mapping options along with background information.Choose a locality (state, region, county, or city) and district type by clicking on a card. The available localities and districts vary by state. (Additional localities can be added upon request.)You will now be redirected to your selected districting page.
Main Tools
Moving across the map
Select the hand icon on the toolbar at the bottom of the map. Then click and drag to pan across the map.To zoom in and out, use the plus and minus buttons in the bottom right corner of the map. You can also use a mouse scroll wheel or trackpad.Drawing the districts
To draw your first district, select the paintbrush icon on the toolbar at the bottom of the map. Click and drag on the map to add units to your district.To draw another district, select a new color from the color bar that appears when you click the paint icon. Each color corresponds to a different district. For pages with large numbers of districts, only one color will show when you start. For these, use the dropdown menu to select a different color.To change the size of the brush, drag the brush size slider directly above the color bar.To paint whole counties, toggle the “County Brush” box next to the slider.To inspect districts without altering them, or to avoid painting over already-drawn areas, toggle the lock icon next to the district number in the list of districts in the “Population” tab.To correct the boundaries of your districts, click the erase icon on the toolbar at the bottom of the map. Click and drag to remove units from that district. The size of the eraser can be adjusted by dragging the slider.Alternately, click the “undo/redo” buttons to revert the boundaries of your district plan to a previous version.If you need to use smaller units of geography to balance the population of your districts, click the break icon on the toolbar at the bottom of the map. Then click on a unit you want to “shatter”, allowing you to paint subsets of the original unit. You can see the population number of each broken piece by clicking the gear icon in the upper right corner of the map and selecting “Show total population labels on blocks”.If you need to move the toolbar, you can do so by clicking the gear icon in the upper right corner of the map and selecting “Enable draggable toolbar”. Beneath that option, you can also choose to resize the toolbar. Once enabled, you can drag the toolbar around the map or snap it to the right hand panel.Districts
To hide the districts from the map, click the gear icon in the upper right corner of the map and toggle the “Show painted districts” box.To see county boundaries overlaid on your map, toggle the “Show County Boundaries” box.Tabs
Population
The population tab allows you to view the population of each drawn district. To balance your population evenly between districts, make reference to the ideal population count and vertical bar provided in this tab.To see which units you still need to color, click the gear icon in the upper right corner of the map and then choose the “Highlight unassigned areas” box.Demographics
Under this tab, you can study the demographic make up of your districts. You have the option of total population or voting age population. To change whether this is by share or by count, click the gear icon to the right of “Evaluation” and choose “Population by Share” or “Population by Count”.You can also view the demographic data as a choropleth on the map itself. Choose “Comparison” at the bottom of the demographics tab to put the choropleth side by side with the map, or “Overlay” to put it on top of the map. Choose a map variable to display.Elections
In the elections tab you can view how your districts would have behaved under past election data. You can also view the election data as a choropleth on the map itself. Choose “Comparison” at the bottom of the demographics tab to put the choropleth side by side with the map, or “Overlay” to put it on top of the map. Choose a map variable to display.You can also view the election data as a choropleth on the map itself. Choose “Comparison” at the bottom of the demographics tab to put the choropleth side by side with the map, or “Overlay” to put it on top of the map. Choose a map variable to display.Map Validation
Under the map validation tab, you can check that your map is missing any geographic units, and check if the districts are contiguous.Saving and Sharing
Saving your Map
Your map automatically saves as you work.Clicking the “Save/Status” button in the upper right hand corner of the map allows you to save your current map with a map name and any comments about the map. Optionally, you can toggle your map from a draft to “Ready to Share” if you are fully finished.This allows you to return to your map from the “Recent Maps” tab in the upper left hand drop down menu.Sharing your Map
Clicking the “Share” button saves the map you created and allows you to share a link to the map. You can either share a frozen link, which does not allow editing of the original map, or an editable link, which only allows people with a password to edit.Saving and Sharing
Exporting/Importing Maps
Districtr provides the option to export a map in several formats. The most compatible format with other platforms is a CSV assignment file which maps Census blocks to districts. Click on the Districtr menu in the upper left corner and select “Export assignments”, then “Block assignments”. Note that even if you built your map entirely out of VTDs, this will create a block assignment file.Districtr allows users to import maps from CSV block assignment files. Click on the Districtr menu in the upper left corner and select “Create new map” and then “Upload block assignments”. From here, upload your assignment file.
Ready to start drawing districts?
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