Google Gets it Right in PA

Up to now, we've been somewhat disappointed with Google's election maps. But their latest offering for Pennsylvania does a great job of merging election results with demographics via maps, charts, and even a spreadsheet.

The Google Lat Long Blog has the details. We hope the Google Elections Team goes back and produces this sort of county-level analysis for all states.

Our guess is that similar precinct-level maps and charts may be on the way from Google. But this is unlikely to happen on a nationwide scale until the 2012 election. By then, most states will have produced precinct-level datasets depicting the 2008 election as part of the 2010 census redistricting and reapportionment cycle.

In the meantime, we've produced precinct-level Google Earth maps for eight states showing the 2004 election.

More Bush-Gore

Bush-Gore precinct maps in Google Earth KMZ format are now available via the Google Earth forum for two additional late primary states -- Indiana (May 6) and West Virginia (May 13).

Click graphic for larger image.

With Kentucky (May 20) sandwiched in between, it would have been nice to include the Bluegrass State as well. But, alas, there are very few counties where the election data from 2000 matches the 2000 census precinct geography.

The Google Earth files are organized into folders sorted by county,allowing for faster display and easier export to Google Maps. See this map of Kanawah County, WV (Charleston).

As in the Kanawah County Google Map, you may wish to make the colors a little more transparent for Google Maps. You can do this by doing a search and replace on the statewide KML file -- search for b0 and change to 7f.

West Virginia election data could not be matched to precinct boundaries in Cabell County and a few other areas. Indiana is more spotty -- precincts reflecting approximately 80% of the votes cast in the 2000 election are displayed.

There is a lot more demographic and election data available for West Virginia via FairVote2020's West Virginia interactive map. Also, at the end of the web page, you'll find Bush-Gore and 2000 Election Day turnout maps in Adobe format for 60 cities and towns.

This is the first time we have produced a map for Indiana, so you'll have to rely on the SocioEcon Mapper for additional info on Indiana neighborhoods.

Bush-Gore by 2000 Precinct in Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania primary is just a month away. There is probably a statewide GIS database showing Bush-Kerry by precinct, but the gatekeepers at the political party headquarters will never make it available to the public.

Fortunately, Pennsylvania is a state where a Bush-Gore map is just about as useful. So we have uploaded a precinct-level Google Earth map showing 2000 presidential election results in a head-to-head Bush-Gore contest.

You can download the KMZ file from the Google Earth forum, where we have uploaded several Google Earth precinct-level maps from other states showing the 2004 election.

The KML file is organized by county to make it easy to export precincts into Google Maps. Lehigh County (Allentown) is shown below.


View Larger Map

The FairVote2020 Pennsylvania interactive map was probably the most heavily used map on our website prior to the 2004 election. You can query that map for a lot more demographic and voting data than you get with the Google Earth map.

If you need detailed paper maps, you can download Adobe maps for 55 places at the end of the PA interactive map web page.