How to make precinct level maps?
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Young Conservative
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« on: January 10, 2018, 04:40:36 PM »

How do I make a county level precinct map? Thank you. This is for a project I am working on.
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cinyc
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« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2018, 09:03:38 AM »

Do you have a shapefile for the county precincts? If so, read my How To Use QGIS Tutorial.

If not, you need to find one. Search Google for “precinct shapefile X county”. There may or may not be one available.
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shua
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« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2018, 08:48:39 PM »

Which county are you working on?
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Young Conservative
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« Reply #3 on: January 13, 2018, 04:39:28 PM »

What is a shapefile? I want a blank precinct level map.
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cinyc
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« Reply #4 on: January 13, 2018, 05:27:52 PM »

Of what jurisdiction?
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Adam Griffin
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« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2018, 07:51:28 PM »
« Edited: January 13, 2018, 07:59:27 PM by Fmr. Pres. Griff »

If what you're looking for isn't something cinyc has available and/or you don't have the patience/expertise to generate these with a GIS solution, then here's a patchwork solution I've used in the past when wanting a simple, easily hand-colored option. Takes all of a few of minutes when you get the hang of it and works (or at least gives you a base from which to modify) in most cases.

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At this point, all that's left is to clean up some pixels and trim the map to your exact boundaries. The biggest problem with this method is that the maps in DRA are from 2008-2010, meaning that the area you're evaluating may have since changed its precinct boundaries, requiring further, hand-drawn edits.

Here's an example I just did of Lawrence County, AL. Took about 2 minutes in all to generate, another minute or two to isolate from the surrounding counties in Paint w/ an eraser, and another 2 minutes to clean up the interior pixels. Each precinct now colors in one-click.

Is it the prettiest looking map? No. Is it relatively easy to generate, easy to hand-color and helpful when no other viable options exist? Yes.

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shua
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« Reply #6 on: January 14, 2018, 09:06:55 PM »

depending on what county and what year you are doing (since the precinct boundaries change), I may have a base map for it already.
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