The Electoral Commission Queensland is responsible for many things one of which is managing the formalisation of state electoral boundaries. Every few years these boundaries are updated to better reflect the population and political distribution of suburbs and regions in Queensland.
The ECQ is about to propose a redistribution of these boundaries and requires a tool to help the general public find which electorate they currently live in and how the proposed changes may affect them. There is an existing Javascript tool, based on the Google Maps API which allows user to view a map with the Queensland electorates overlaid.
The client needs this tool to be extended to allow for additional data sets including the new proposed boundaries. This would allow someone to search a location; see the current boundary and overlay the new boundary.
Project outcomes
- The client provided KML map data which allowed up to map these new layers and regions over a topographical map using the Google Maps Javascript API.
- We created a new user interface that helps users either search by address or district.
- Implemented a “Locate me” feature which detects the user’s current location and uses that to display map boundaries.
- Extensive business logic to cater for complex situations where certain regions may reside within another.
- Extended the existing codebase to cater for new map layers and new rules.
- Performance optimisation and testing to ensure a speedy experience for users on mobile devices.
- We delivered a fully self contained application that the client was able to implement inside their existing site.
- One of the most satisfying moments for one of our developers was receiving a mailbox drop from their local member of parliament telling them about the new proposed districts and on the flyer they had included a link to the tool we helped construct.
