Conversion and Assignment

Conversion and assignment files are used for translating data from one geographic unit of analysis to another.

Assignment files are used to assign one geographic unit to another when there is no overlap between the geographic units and as such, a geographic unit of one type can be wholly assigned to a geographic unit of another. Assignment files have two columns, one column indicating the geographic unit to be assigned and the second column containing its corresponding assignment to the other geographic unit.

An example of one of our most commonly used assignment files is our block to district assignment file. This file contains the census block numbers and their corresponding assignment to a given set of districts such as Assembly, Congressional, Senate, or the Board of Equalization districts. This is possible because census blocks do not cross district lines and as such they are either wholly within a given district or they are not.

Conversion files become necessary when there is overlap between geographies and as a result a geographic unit can not be wholly assigned to another as it is only partially contained within another geographic unit. In this case, it would be neccesary to ' translate' the geography from one geographic unit of analysis to another. Therefore conversion files will have a third column indicating the ratio of the geographic unit contained with in the other.

For instance, census tracts will often only be partially contained within a given census place. In this case, a census place to census tract conversion file can tell you what portion or ratio of a census tract is contained with a given census place. These ratios can be determined using either the census block population of the tract contained with the census place or the percentage of area of the tract contained with in the census place.

The block to precinct conversions are created from the area intersection of block and precinct polygons. Those are the conversions that are put up at the same time as the precinct geography files. Precinct to block conversion are more complicated and there are several methods used. The conversion files up on the web are simple geographic conversions.

Census Geography Assignment & Conversion File Collection: Our assignment and conversion files assign precincts and census geography such as blocks, tracts, and places to their corresponding electoral districts i.e. Assembly, Congressional, Senate, and Board of Equalization districts and or other geographic entities such as zip codes.

Precinct Conversion File Collection: Our complete collection of precinct conversion files. Precinct boundaries change with every election. The precinct conversion files are used for translating the data from one set of precinct geography to another allowing comparison of data across elections.

California Redistricting Data Conversion Files: Our conversion files as well as data and geography for a specific election.