Looking for large Australian/Canadian electorates/ridings templates

[homelycooking]

Preferably in a large enough image size so as to maximize clarity and minimize the number of insets needed to depict urban areas.

[Sibboleth]

Smid has made a load for both countries, I've done a set for Australia (just the federal electorates, mind).

[Hatman]

They're in the gallery.

[Smid]

I've made a few maps of Canada (federal) and most of the Canadian provinces (partially completed Nova Scotia and a little of a New Brunswick map, still working on insets for a Quebec map). For BC, I have one which doesn't require insets, but again, it's not terribly detailed. The federal Canadian one is at the largest size able to be uploaded into the Gallery (2500 x 2500 pixels), so you won't find a larger, more detailed map capable of being uploaded here. I haven't done any Australian federal maps because there's typically a redistribution affecting at least one Australian state after each federal election, so the map would need to be updated very regularly (the way it works is that after each election, the figures are released to identify how many seats each state should have, and then states which are entitled to more seats receive seats and states which have too many seats lose seats, and then in states not having changes to the number of reps entitlements, if there is too great a variance between seats, there is a redistribution in that state, or if it's a certain number of years since the last redistribution, there is a redistribution in that state). Anyway, this usually results in a redistribution somewhere after every election. I've done state parliament maps for Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory and done part of a Tasmanian map. There have been redistributions in Western Australia and the Northern Territory since I made my maps, though. All of them are clearest with insets, although I've got a Victorian one with no insets. The Queensland one has a South-East Queensland inset, but I think the whole-of-state map has all the seats, so you don't actually need the inset (although the detail isn't great in SEQ). Blank copies of all my maps are available in the blank maps gallery. I'm sorry I haven't got anything better in terms of no insets. My New South Wales one is especially bad, since I haven't put all the insets on the one map, they're all separate files.

The problem both Australia and Canada have, is that they are large countries with small populations, and where most of the population is concentrated in cities - leading to vast areas which are sparesly populated, unlike the UK and to a lesser extent, the US.


Canada Federal Ridings Election Map

(except for the Toronto inset, all the Ontario insets are not technically necessary - the ridings shown within are all on the map already, just not especially detailed).


Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Ridings Election Map



Prince Edward Island Provincial Ridings Election Map



Nova Scotia



Quebec (2011 post-redistribution) Provincial Ridings Election Map



Quebec (pre-redistribution) Provincial Ridings Election Map



Ontario Provincial Ridings Election Map



Manitoba Provincial Ridings Election Map



Saskatchewan Provincial Ridings Election Map

(the insets aren't entirely necessary here, either)


Alberta (2010 post-redistribution) Provincial Ridings Election Map



Alberta (pre-redistribution) Provincial Ridings Election Map



British Columbia Provincial Ridings Election Map

(insets necessary)


BC Provincial Ridings Election Map

(all ridings appear on main map, with a lack of detail)


Queensland State Election Map

(SEQ Inset not entirely necessary)


New South Wales State Election Maps - Rural and Regional NSW



New South Wales State Election Maps - Central Coast and Newcastle Region



New South Wales State Election Maps - Greater Sydney Area



New South Wales State Election Maps - Illawarra Region



Victoria State Election Map - Melbourne Inset

(the Melbourne inset area contains electorates from the five "metropolitan" Upper House Regions - Eastern Metro, Northern Metro, Southern Metro, South Eastern Metro and Western Metro - the whole of state map contains electorates from the remaining three Upper House Regions - Eastern Victoria, Northern Victoria and Western Victoria)


Victoria State Election Map - Whole of State on One Map



Northern Territory Election Map

(unfortunately, like NSW, this map comes in two files)

Northern Territory Election Map - Darwin and Palmerston



South Australian State Election Map



Western Australia State Election Map



Al produced this map of Australian federal electorates:



Brisbane City Council Wards


2001 Australian Federal Election Boundaries



2004 Australian Federal Election Boundaries



2007 Australian Federal Election Boundaries



2010 Australian Federal Election Boundaries



2013 Australian Federal Election Boundaries

[homelycooking]

F--- me senseless.

Thank you thank you thank you! Boy, am I going to have a great weekend.

[Smid]

Glad you like them! They're all in the blank map gallery (I had to upload blank NT and NSW ones because it turned out that I'd only ever done election results ones of them, but they're there now).

There are also a couple of key map ones in there, showing riding names in a key on the map (I didn't post them here, obviously, but they're in there for pre-redistribution Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Newfoundland & Labrador).

[Χahar]

If I may ask, how do you go about making blank maps?

[Sibboleth]

If I may ask, how do you go about making blank maps?

The easiest way is a steady hand and something to trace.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

If I may ask, how do you go about making blank maps?

The easiest way is a steady hand and something to trace.

[Smid]

If I may ask, how do you go about making blank maps?

The easiest way is a steady hand and something to trace.

What Al says.

I'll email you some of the original maps I've used, so you can compare them to the finished product. Most electoral commissions have a PDF map available showing multiple electorates - notable exceptions include Newfoundland & Labrador, and the "all ridings" map of Nova Scotia is frustratingly light on detail (I'll tell you how I've dealt with them later).

Anyway, increase the zoom on the PDF map until the map is big enough (I usually go with 100% if that's not going to create a map larger than the 2500 x 2500 pixel maximum for the gallery here, although I think I've gone bigger at times, and sometimes I've needed to go smaller). In the Edit Menu of Acrobat Reader, there is the "Take a Snapshot" tool (I'm sure you already know about it, but I'm including every step so I don't overlook anything). Highlight the part of the map that's relevant and copy and paste it into Paint. Then you can crop, if necessary. If you have more space, you may want to zoom on the PDF and do it again, or if the map is too large for the 2500 x 2500 maximum, it's easier to decrease the zoom on the PDF, rather than resize in Paint (in my opinion, anyway), so it may be a matter of trial and error until you get the right size.

Use the pencil tool to draw the boundaries. The draw line tool can be helpful with some of the long, straight boundaries, but make sure the size is one pixel width. I usually set both colours, so I can right click to remove excess fill within the electorate, the eraser tool can be helpful there, and you can also select and delete using the normal select tool. While working on the map, I always choose colours that are different to any that appear on the original map that I downloaded - I often use yellow or bright green as the fill colour for inside the riding because it's immediately apparent if you've missed clearing up any odd pixels next to the boundary, although I usually than change it to grey (or whatever is to be the finishing colour) once I've completed the riding (and possibly any riding touching it, just to make it very apparent what I'm up to). I'll upload my half-complete Nova Scotia, so you can see what I mean. I've been using black for my riding colour as I go along because the boundaries in the original map are more of a maroon, although if the boundaries are black on the original map, I would probably use purple or something. I've been using green as my Nova Scotia temporary fill.

Personally, I like the entire boundary to be able to link up rather than just touching diagonally, but that's just a matter of taste - I like to be able to change the boundary line colour using the spill paint tool, the way you can change riding fill colours with that tool. I also like the boundary to be thinner, rather than thick, although sometimes I use a thicker line to designate provincial boundaries so they stand out compared to riding boundaries (see Nova Scotia and BC). Again, just a matter of taste, and my early maps used a thicker line (see Brisbane City Council - I think the first map I uploaded). I try to include all the boundaries within an inset area now, including those ridings that aren't completely in the inset, and I try to ensure that if a riding is not completely in the inset, it appears on the full province-wide map (so everything is either completely in an inset map or completely in the full map, and some are both). My South Australian maps go against that, though.

While creating the map, sometimes it can be confusing as to exactly where the riding boundary goes, so sometimes it's good to look at Google Maps - and both the normal map view and also the satelite map, since sometimes things show up clearer in one view or another. It's also very helpful to open maps of individual ridings in those circumstances, too, since they usually are more detailed.

Anyway, my solution for Newfoundland was to copy and paste from the different insets (the Newfoundland insets, you'll note, are actually the ones of more than just the riding). I had to paste the insets into a separate canvas to the actual map I was doing, and then use a consistent colour throughout, so that I could then paste with a set transparent selection. Some also needed to be resized, since they were all to different scales. The selected riding was always yellow, so I usually tried to paste a second map of a nearby riding over the top, so that the boundaries could all be in the finer, darker colour. Then all the maps were brought together on the single canvas which I was going to use for the final map. I did each of the insets separately in that case, before pasting all on the one map. I think I did the same with Alberta - rural Alberta, Calgary and Edmonton were all separate files, which were later pasted together. Sometimes it's easier to paste the insets first, however, and sometimes it's best to set the properties as 2500 x 2500 before you start, so you know that it's all going to fit (you can always decrease the properties later, if you have excess space). Sorry to drone on, but these are tips I've learnt through experience (ie, by not doing it and finding my map is too big to upload, or that the insets don't fit, or whatever) and I'd rather save you the time of making the same mistakes I've made at times.

Oh, if you go into properties and reduce the size and it cuts some off - hit undo, rather than simply increasing the size in properties again, because otherwise it won't re-add the bit it cut off, it will simply add a white band down the side. You probably already know that, but it doesn't hurt to mention it.

For Nova Scotia, I hunted around (Google image search) for a decent map of the province, that I could use as a base map, and then add boundaries as required. Most of the maps were too small, making the borders to bulky when resized. I ended up going with the Elections Canada map of Nova Scotia, since most of the provincial ridings fall completely within a federal riding (I've found one split, so far, crossing Central Nova and Cape Breton-Canso). Anyway, that map has all the county boundaries also present, plus highways and rivers, and also some municipal boundaries, all of which are coming in very useful...

Here's where it's at currently:



Oh, finally - if you're going to resize something (to make it smaller), use different colours in the fill, because the boundary may get a bit scattered, and by having varying colours, it's clearer where the boundary goes. You may need to do this for an inset... for example, here's what I did to create the Greater Montreal inset in the federal Canadian map - I'd already done the Montreal inset, but the riding boundaries weren't available on the next level out original maps so I copied my Montreal inset to a new image, resized it to fit on the inset I was creating for the wider area, and pasted it on top of the new inset so that it would fit, but the boundaries weren't clear, so I did it again using different colours for the fill. Here's the original and resized versions side-by-side, with coloured fill and without:

[Hatman]

Im interested in what homelycooking is planning...

[bgwah]

The easiest way would probably be downloading a shapefile and opening it in a GIS program.

[Χahar]

That was very informative, Smid. Thanks!

The easiest way would probably be downloading a shapefile and opening it in a GIS program.

I've been meaning to learn GIS for a while. One of these days I will.

[lilTommy]

Smid... i hope this wont upset you, but Nova Scotia has begun a process of redistribution... so by the time your map is done you might need a new one

and its causing some "news" since the gov't is going to toss out the minority (acadian and black) designated ridings (Richmond, Clare and Argyle are Acadian and Preston was the "black" one yet hasn't elected a black MLA since i think the 90's)

[Hatman]

Was Preston even majority black? I know the town of Preston itself was. I saw a show about that town, the people there still have southern accents. (it was one of the destinations of the underground railroad)

[lilTommy]

Was Preston even majority black? I know the town of Preston itself was. I saw a show about that town, the people there still have southern accents. (it was one of the destinations of the underground railroad)

Looks like it says 2/3rds are black... but the problem is they are under quota (only 19000 residents 2006) in the ridings. Yvonne Atwell (NDP 98-99) was the last black MLA

Argyle - 8000+
Clare - almost 9000
Richmond - 10000
... so these three "acadian" ridings for sure are going to change drastically, Preston less so

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

If you are interested in a map that's so large that I have difficulty finding places to upload it, I have a huge canada map that has only 3 insets for the whole of eastern canada

[Smid]

Smid... i hope this wont upset you, but Nova Scotia has begun a process of redistribution... so by the time your map is done you might need a new one

and its causing some "news" since the gov't is going to toss out the minority (acadian and black) designated ridings (Richmond, Clare and Argyle are Acadian and Preston was the "black" one yet hasn't elected a black MLA since i think the 90's)

Not upset but man! That happened with me on Quebec also, while I was still working on the map, and Alberta had a redistribution after I completed the map. Anyway, I'll try to finish the current map before it's complete and do a new one after they've finished. If I leave the current map and then decide to do it later, I may have difficulty finding the individual riding maps for the detail.

Teddy, I'd love to see the map! I think you have my email address? I can PM it to you otherwise, if you don't mind sending it to me.

[Smid]

Uploaded a blank Brisbane City Council Ward Map (and edited earlier post to reflect this).

Brisbane is one of the very few partisan councils in Australia (I believe just Brisbane and Townsville have official party candidates). It is also a very large council area, stretching across the Greater Brisbane Area. Wards are roughly the same size as state electorates and contain something like 30,000 voters. The City of Melbourne is a bit different, in that rate-payers can vote (so if you own a car park in town, you get a ballot paper), so it's a bit different, but the City of Melbourne isn't much bigger than the downtown, and so an accurate comparison... well, probably not any larger than two of those wards. This is despite many more people living in the Greater Melbourne Area, it's just that area is broken up into more municipalities, which makes it harder to map in a meaningful manner.

Incidentally, this was the first boundary map I created, and a shaded version of this was the first map I uploaded here. For this reason, I apologise for the broad boundary lines.

[Sibboleth]

It's remarkable that the City of Melbourne can exist in a country that is as proud of its radical democratic traditions as Australia.

[Smid]

It's remarkable that the City of Melbourne can exist in a country that is as proud of its radical democratic traditions as Australia.

It does tend to remind me of rotton boroughs and only land-owners voting, but I also see the other side of the coin - council taxation is I think mostly rates, and paid by land owners, so it could be argued that it's the whole "no taxation without representation" thing. Of course, companies are separate legal entities, and pay corporations tax, but company boards don't get a vote.

[Sibboleth]

It does tend to remind me of rotton boroughs and only land-owners voting, but I also see the other side of the coin - council taxation is I think mostly rates, and paid by land owners, so it could be argued that it's the whole "no taxation without representation" thing. Of course, companies are separate legal entities, and pay corporations tax, but company boards don't get a vote.

Well, you can use that hypothetical argument to end democracy in local government entirely. Which many businessmen in many countries would like very much, obviously. Though maybe it's more a reflection of the weakness of local government in Australia than much else.

[Smid]

It does tend to remind me of rotton boroughs and only land-owners voting, but I also see the other side of the coin - council taxation is I think mostly rates, and paid by land owners, so it could be argued that it's the whole "no taxation without representation" thing. Of course, companies are separate legal entities, and pay corporations tax, but company boards don't get a vote.

Well, you can use that hypothetical argument to end democracy in local government entirely. Which many businessmen in many countries would like very much, obviously. Though maybe it's more a reflection of the weakness of local government in Australia than much else.

I'm not defending it, merely stating what I think the argument is for not changing it.

[Sibboleth]

I know you're not defending it: that's why I added the 'hypothetical'

[Smid]

I know you're not defending it: that's why I added the 'hypothetical'

By the way - just emailed you a map that may interest you.