Marion County DistrictBuilder Quick Start Guide marioncountydistrictbuilder.

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see drawmarioncounty.org for more information email your questions to Bryan at bpreston@drawmarioncounty.org

Step 1: Logging In
Creating a new account is easy. From marioncountydistrictbuilder.org, click Sign Up and choose a Username, Password, and Password Hint (if you forget it later). Its recommended that you provide an email address in case you forget your password, but this is not required. Note that its required that your password be at least 8 or more characters and include a number, a capital letter and a lower-case letter. Username: _______________________ Password: ___________________

If you already have created an account, simply Log In with your Username and Password.

Step 2: Plan
If you are starting a new map, you must start with a template. Under 1. Select District Layer, make sure City County Council is selected in the drop-down menu. Under 2. Select Plan Type o Click your choice of template to start from: Blank, 2003-2001 City County Council Districts (the current districts), or 2015 City County Council Districts (the future district plan passed by the legislature last year). You can also use plans shared by others as a template. Click the Shared tab on the left to see a list of these. For the beginning user, we recommend that you start from the 2003 District Plan. o Once youve chosen your plan, enter a name in the box under 4. Name Plan and Start Drawing and click Start Drawing (see column on the right). You must enter a name for every map you create. If you are a returning user and youd like to continue work on a map youve already created: Click the My Plans tab on the left. You will see all of the plans youve created. Highlight the appropriate plan by clicking it. Click Start Drawing. If youd like to change the title of your plan or provide a description, click on Edit Details and revise the appropriate fields.

Step 3: Explore
Before you dive in, explore the map: zoom, pan (aka move around), view by different data layers (population, race, politics, etc), and different boundaries. One way to do this is using the pan and zoom features always located at the northwest corner of the map.

Pan buttons = to move the view area, click on the arrows.

Zoom Slider Tool = click the plus or minus sign to zoom in or out. Or click and drag the slider itself and move it to the desired zoom level.

Transparency Slider = click and drag the fader to reveal the reference map behind the districts layer.

Set Map Layer = this allows you to change the symbolization of the map. The default shows the population. The variable Black VAP (voting age population) will be helpful in drawing majority-minority districts.

Click on the Map Legend in the lower right corner of the map to show what the colors on the map signify.

Step 4: Draw
Once you have a lay of the land, start (re-)drawing boundaries using these MAP EDITING tools:

Click the DISTRICT TOOLS tab to switch the toolbar to these tools. These are additional tools that help you edit the map, but mostly you will use the tools in the MAP EDITING tab (above).

Examine the Statistics column to the right of the map as you draw the map. This is automatically updated as you make changes. Clicking Edit Stats provides a way to bring up additional data on the districts you have created.

Step 5: Evaluate (optional)

Another way to generate detailed statistics on your districts is to create a report by clicking the EVALUATE tab at the top of the screen. Select whatever statistics you like and then Create and Preview Report. This can take several minutes depending on the complexity of your map.

Step 6: Share (optional)

Sharing your plan isnt required; if you would not like to share your plan simply skip this step. Shared plans can be used as a template by others, but they are not directly editable by others. Click on SHARE at the top of the screen to accomplish this.

Make sure to logout when you are finished!

With your Username and Password, you can always pick up where you left off or create additional maps. DistrictBuilder automatically saves your work as you go. Look in the bottom left corner for a time stamp that displays when your work was last saved. It is critical that you logout when your work is done; logging out ensures you can log-in from another computer and saves server resources for other users.