voter information portal

Presented by:

Marianne Cardwell, Woolpert, Inc.

Cheryl Spencer, City of Indianapolis

February 23, 2010

Voter Information Portal

–2010 Indiana GIS Conference

Overview

History Demo Architecture

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HISTORY

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History

First Polling Place Locator in late 1990’s. Original vision

To locate a voter’s polling location based on their address.

Used ArcIMS-based technology to display polling location information in a web application.

Voter Information Portal (VIP) is the 4th generation of the Polling Place Locator.

–2010 Indiana GIS Conference

Challenges

Geocoding Used fallback (composite) geocoding from

parcels to streets. Unable to locate 100% of addresses in Marion

County Missing information Match scores not meeting threshold set in locator

In a few cases street range interpolation put the address coordinate in the wrong precinct.

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Geocoding

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Geocoding (2)

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Geocoding (3)

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Application and Server Performance

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Indiana Statewide Voter Registration System

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Voter Information Portal

Upgrade technology Find a way to achieve better geocode

matches. Same functionality as previous versions

with the addition of sample ballots. Create a management portal for the

Election Board personnel to manage candidates, sample ballots, and update elected official information.

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DEMO

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VIP Demo

Include video, just in case!

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ARCHITECTURE

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Overall Architecture (1)

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Overall Architecture (2)

Service-oriented architecture. Bulk of logic in services. JavaScript code mainly contains page

layout and interaction.

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Dojo Widgets

VIP uses 10 custom widgets: Address component: provides geocoding-like

functionality. Tabs: each VIP tab is a widget. Provides user

with information obtained from the Elections Service.

Directions widget: provides directions using Microsoft’s Bing Maps API.

Widgets developed so they can be used in other web applications.

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Address Component (1)

Custom Dojo widget used within a number of online city applications.

User can enter street addresses or intersections.

Lists suggestions. Uses city’s Master Address Database

(MAD). No geocoding or ArcObjects.

–2010 Indiana GIS Conference

Address Component (2)

x3,y3

200

x0,y0

100

x2,y2

x1,y1

150 E Washington St

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Election Service – Structure

WCF Service with 2 interfaces with identical methods:

Client-side applications interface: methods are REST-enabled and called via GET requests. All input parameters are strings.

Server-side applications interface: service can easily be added as a service reference in Visual Studio. Input parameter types vary.

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Election Service – Functionality

Possible Inputs: Address XY coordinates Precinct

Returns: polling place locations satellite voting locations voter registration information voting districts elected officials candidates ballots

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Obtaining Polling Place

APIPWeb Service

QueryWeb Service

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Obtaining Elected Officials (1)

APIPWeb Service

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Obtaining Elected Officials (2)

Positions Table

Districts Table

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Obtaining Elected Officials (3)

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QUESTIONS?