Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

General Questions

What is PoliSciPy? PoliSciPy is an open-source Python library designed for political data analysis and visualization, with a particular focus on U.S. elections. It provides tools for creating electoral college maps, analyzing voting results, and visualizing voting trends.
Who is PoliSciPy for? PoliSciPy is for data analysts, political scientists, educators, students, and anyone interested in analyzing or visualizing U.S. electoral data!
What does PoliSciPy stand for? PoliSciPy is short for "Political Science Python," reflecting its focus on political science analysis and data visualization using Python.

Installation Questions

What are the system requirements for PoliSciPy?
  • Python 3.8 or higher
  • Libraries such as GeoPandas, Matplotlib, and Pandas (automatically installed with PoliSciPy)
  • Optional: Git for cloning the latest version from the repository
How do I install PoliSciPy? You can install PoliSciPy using pip or conda:
pip install poliscipy
or
conda install -c conda-forge poliscipy
For detailed installation steps, refer to the Installation Guide.

Usage Questions

How do I create an electoral college map? Refer to the Quickstart Guide for step-by-step instructions, including loading geospatial data, merging it with electoral results, and plotting a map.
What file formats does PoliSciPy support for data input? PoliSciPy primarily works with GeoPandas GeoDataFrames but can handle data from CSVs, dictionaries, or pandas DataFrames as long as they can be merged with the GeoDataFrame.
How do I customize the appearance of maps? You can customize map titles, colors, labels, and more by using the parameters in the plot_electoral_map() function. Detailed instructions can be found in the API Documentation.

Troubleshooting

I’m getting an error when importing GeoPandas. What should I do? Ensure that GeoPandas is installed in your environment:
pip install geopandas
If issues persist, consult the GeoPandas installation guide.
My map isn’t displaying correctly. What could be wrong?
  • Check that your data is correctly merged with the GeoDataFrame.
  • Verify that the column name passed to plot_electoral_map() exists in your data.
  • Review the example in the Quickstart Guide to make sure that you are following the correct steps.
How do I report a bug? If you encounter a bug while using PoliSciPy, please submit an issue on the GitHub Issue Tracker with a clear description and steps to reproduce it.

Contributing Questions

How can I contribute to PoliSciPy? Contributions are always welcome! See the Contributing Guide for detailed instructions.
Do I need to be an expert to contribute? Not at all! There are a variety of ways that you can contribute, including reporting issues, suggesting features, improving documentation, or writing code. Every bit helps!

Miscellaneous

Can I use PoliSciPy for non-U.S. elections? Currently, PoliSciPy only officially supports creating electoral college maps for U.S. elections. However, the process for plotting election maps for other countries is very similar. In principle, PoliSciPy can be adapted to work with other country's shapefiles as long as the structure of the GeoDataFrame remains consistent (e.g., the column names match). Feel free to experiment and share your results!
Where can I find examples and tutorials? Visit the Examples section of the documentation for detailed tutorials and code snippets.
How do I cite PoliSciPy in my research? Please refer to the Citation Guide for information on how to cite PoliSciPy in your work.