The Florida legislature has come into a special session in order to create a new congressional plan which (possibly) will be used for this fall's elections.
In perusing the committee documents on the proposed plan
Committee Bill Analysis (PDF) see page 59 of PDF , I came across a table on page 59 of the PDF that was interesting. It shows compactness measures that are apparently based on paths within districts, both straight line and by road connection (both distance and time).
If these are the same as described in this paper,
Measuring Legislative Boundaries (PDF) , it appears that they are comparing the distance between random individuals of different groups. Also it appears that distances get shortened because of urban concentrations within districts. For example, District 1 in the west end of the panhandle, must include many paths in and around the Pensacola area.
A district that linked two distant cities would score relatively poorly. A district that attempted to connect Whatcom and Okanogan would probably score low measured on travel distance or time.
General Comment on Plan: The circuit court overturned FL-5 (Corrine Brown's snake district from Jacksonville to Orlando), and FL-10 which wraps around the southern tip of FL-5 to pick up some areas in Orlando. FL-5 had a side appendage into Sanford which was particularly objected to.
The plan removes the two appendage and somewhat fattens the snake. Interestingly it leaves FL-3, the outer portion of Jacksonville and Duval counties unchanged.
FL-9 is shoved north to take in the two appendages, and FL-10, FL-17, and FL-9 are rotated counter-clockwise to accommodate the population changes. Changes to FL-6, FL-7, and FL-15 are made to permit widening of the snake.
