The truth is…all districts are “janky” in some way. Redistricting really is just a game of trade offs, you will never have a truly good district (unless it’s an at large
)
You can do your best to minimize downsides and others will give tips, but geography gets the final word.
Generally the racial maps aren’t a bad start for building communities, but you can find lots of other detailed maps online, life expecntacny, income, education level maps as well. Really a lot of it is practice. The more you keep going to more familiar you will be with everywhere.
