NGP VAN, the leading technology provider for Democratic and progressive campaigns, today announced upgrades to its turf auto-cutter feature that turns what used to be hours of manual map-drawing into minutes. The improved turf auto-cutter dramatically streamlines that process, generating smarter, more intuitive routes while preserving organizers’ ability to make final adjustments.
The enhanced algorithm creates more walkable, campaign-ready turfs by accounting for real-world geographic features such as highways, rivers, railroads, and other barriers that can make canvassing inefficient. Organizers simply choose their preferred parameters, and the tool automatically generates editable canvassing maps that align more closely with how experienced field organizers would build it themselves.
In 2024 alone, NGP VAN users spent more than 94,000 hours on the turf auto-cutter page, with the vast majority manually preparing maps and packets for canvassers, or “cutting turf.” The enhanced turf auto-cutter drastically reduces that work, helping Democratic and progressive campaigns and causes spend less time preparing maps and more time recruiting volunteers, engaging voters, and building grassroots power.
“Our goal has always been to build technology that helps organizers spend more time organizing,” said Chelsea Peterson Thompson, General Manager of NGP VAN. “The improved turf auto-cutter removes one of the most time-intensive parts of organizing while giving Democratic and progressive campaigns confidence that the routes they’re sending volunteers into reflect the realities on the ground.”
“We redesigned turf auto-cutter to give Democratic and progressive campaigns back their most limited resource: time. By automating one of the most labor-intensive parts of field organizing, campaigns can quickly create high-quality turf and then refine it using their own knowledge of the communities they’re working in.” said Jordan Newman, Senior Product Manager at NGP VAN.
The improved turf auto-cutter is the latest investment in NGP VAN’s continued effort to make organizing technology faster, smarter, and easier to use. By reducing administrative work and improving everyday workflows, NGP VAN helps campaigns and organizations focus on what matters most: building volunteer power, engaging voters, and winning campaigns.
