GeekNet Goodies Part III: LA County's GIS Operation

[Image courtesy of LADPW]

Continuing my series of posts on last week’s GeekNet meeting in Minneapolis, today I’d like to share the presentation made by Ken Bennett of the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s Office.

Ken’s talk focused on his office’s use of geographic information systems (GIS) to help manage and analyze data on election administration.

The key point is found on page 4 of Ken’s slides, where he demonstrates how data that has typically been stored in flat (table) form can be expressed as a geographic relationship which in turn can be used in a wide variety of applications.

In the beginning, GIS technology was used to generate detailed maps, and you can see some of that in Ken’s presentation. But as the technology has matured – and with it the profession’s understanding of GIS’ value – election offices have been able to use the technology to manage precinct lines, identify trouble spots on Election Day and track election materials as they move out to polling places and back.

The challenge, of course, is to keep the underlying data up-to-date and accurate, and Los Angeles County has taken steps to ensure that all County agencies – not just elections – is sharing those updates in as close to real-time as possible.

Organizing and presenting election data geographically is only going to get more valuable as more and more voters carry smartphones or other technology that can use location-based applications.

In many ways, geographic information is the future of election administration – thanks to Ken and his colleagues at Los Angeles County for giving us a peek inside their operation!