Map It

Because I was just a teensy bit busy last week with Brian's wedding,  I didn't put as much time as I should have into my census job. That's changing this week.

When I finished Enumerator training and started doing actual work, I received a binder with an Assignment Area  (or AA) that I need to complete and blank census forms for the houses in the area that did NOT return the one mailed to their house.  Those are the ones I'm visiting.  In addition to the census forms, the binder also contains detailed maps of the AA; each house is indicated by a map spot which was collected last year by Enumerators (using a hand held computer equipped with GPS) during the address canvassing portion of the census.

It's taken me more than a week, and several drives through the area, but I've managed to talk to someone at the vast majority of houses in the first AA, and yesterday I received a second binder and set of paperwork.  When I opened up the new binder and looked at the area I'd be going to, I realized it contained several subdivisions close to mine, which I'd also covered last year as an address canvasser.  The map spots on those maps were mine!  I did a good job on them, if I do say so myself. They were evenly spaced and equidistant from the road, mirroring the equal-sized yards and house setbacks of the subdivision.

As I worked in the area this evening, I had a sense of déjà vu.  I already knew the twists and turns of the roads from walking through them last year, and I remember standing in front of some of those very same houses.  Since I know it will take multiple trips through this new area before it's completed, I bet I'll soon know it like the back of my hand!