Draft article, please do not quote.
DistrictBuilder is a computer software that enables users to divide a geographical region into electoral districts and determine the boundaries of the districts on the basis of district compactness, district contiguity and voter demographics, such as age, race, gender, income and education.
Overview
editDistrictBuilder is an open-source mapping software for drawing maps of electoral districts, e.g. congressional and state senate districts in the U.S..[1][2][3][4][5]
DistrictBuilder was created by the Philadelphia-based company Azavea and Micah Altman and Michael McDonald, a professor of political science at George Mason University, of the Public Mapping Project.[6] The authors consider the application domain of the mapping software to be in demystifying and democratizing the traditionally byzantine redistricting process and breaking the mapmaking monopoly held by state lawmakers.[7][8] These are beneficial outcomes even in the view that the maps created with the software will not be adopted by the government officials.[7]
-- Epoch times --more info
The software has been used for mapping contests in various US states where the general public or student teams from different universities compete to create alternative redistricting plans using the same criteria as the officially appointed commissions and balance their competing objectives.[7][8][6][5]
Awards
editDistrictBuilder has been recognized by the O'Reilly Strata award for the novel use of data for social impact.[9][10][11]
See Also
editExternal links
editReferences
edit- ^ Mann, Thomas E.; Ornstein, Norman J. (March 18, 2011). "The rigged redistricting process". Washington Post.
- ^ DeBonis, Mike (March 18, 2011). "Map power to the people". Washington Post.
- ^ Kurtzleben, Danielle (March 9, 2011). "Technology Gives Citizens a Say in Redistricting". US News.
- ^ "Best policy innovations of 2011". Politico. Retrieved December 6, 2011.
- ^ a b Nick Judd (February 6, 2012). "In pursuit of a tech answer to gerrymandering, good-government groups must wait another ten years". Techpresident. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
- ^ a b Silver, Mary (13 August 2011). "Crucial redistricting season underway: Fire up the open source GIS software". The Epoch Times.
- ^ a b c DeBonis, Mike (March 18, 2011). "Demystifying Virginia's redistricting". Washington Post.
- ^ a b Korte, Gregory (March 21, 2011). "Technology allows citizens to be part of redistricting process". USA Today.
- ^ "Strata Data Innovation Awards 2012". O'Reilly Strata Data Conference. 25 October 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
- ^ "MIT Libraries' research contributes to award-winning redistricting software, DistrictBuilder". MIT Libraries. 5 November 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
- ^ Matt Enis (12 November 2012). "Open-Source Redistricting: MIT Libraries-Supported Software Takes On Gerrymandering". The Digital Shift. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
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