How To Create Zones
1. When you zoom into a region of a map in the Jurisdiction you are interested in canvassing and click the “Show addresses in Visible Area” button, you should see civic address numbers appear on the map.
2. You can begin planning zones by creating shapes around residences. To begin, click on the map in a corner of an area you wish to learn more about. Then click another corner and you will see a line form as the beginning of a Zone boundary. Continue clicking on corners to see the shape continue to form.
3. Once you have a shape that you wish to learn more about, click on the light blue “Show Licensing Statistics for Selected Area” at the bottom of the map. A box will appear on the map that will show you some key statistics for the shape you have created. These stats include:
The number of addresses in the shape
The number of addresses with currently unexpired licenses in the shape
The number of addresses with currently expired licenses in the shape
The total number of pet licenses in the shape
4. This should help you decide if this is an area that you want to establish as a Zone for canvassing. Some important tips:
We recommend that you keep the number of addresses in a Zone to less than 400. This will help the system load data more efficiently even when internet connections are less than ideal.
You will want to make sure that your Zone boundaries are in the middle of streets where possible, and not crossing lot lines.
5. If you wish to remove the shape entirely and, perhaps, begin creating a new shape, click the red “Clear Selected Area” button.
6. If you wish to turn the shape you have formed into a Zone, click the green “Create Zone” button. When you do, a “Create New Zone” overlay will appear. Enter a name for the zone. This could be your own numbering system, or perhaps you will use a neighbourhood name, prominent street name, or prominent feature in the Zone as your name.
7. You can save the New Zone by either clicking the dark blue “SAVE AND PLAN THE WALKING ROUTE FOR THIS ZONE NOW” (which will save the zone and take you to the Walking Route Planning Page) or the grey “SAVE AND RETURN TO CANVASSING ZONE SCREEN” button.
8. We find that most Canvassing Managers do not plan the walking routes when creating zones and choose to do this later or have their Canvassing Representatives do this prior to conducting a Run in the Zone.
Note that you can edit or delete a Zone ONLY IF there has not been a Run assigned to the Zone.
Editing Zones
You may view any Zone by finding it in the Canvassing Dashboard list and clicking “EDIT”. If the Zone has not been assigned a Run at any point, the Zone’s name and shape can be changed.
Important Considerations:
Once Runs have been assigned, the Zones are uneditable and can’t be deleted. So planning effective Zones is really important as they are rather “permanent” and will likely be assigned multiple Runs in the future!
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