How To Create A Story Map In Arcgis

Before you start

You can publish any ArcGIS Online web map as a story map using the Story Map Basic℠ application. You can create a new web map for your story map, use one of your existing web maps, or use a web map that has been created and shared publicly by other users or organizations.

In this tutorial, you'll create your own web map. This tutorial doesn't cover how to author a web map in ArcGIS Online, so we assume you know the basics. For help with authoring a web map, see Make your first map in the ArcGIS Online help.

Create a new web map.

To do this, you can either click Map on the ArcGIS Online navigation bar at the top of any page, or click the Create Map button on the ArcGIS Online My Content page.

Author your web map.

This includes choosing the basemap you want to use, adding data layers, choosing symbols for these layers, and configuring pop-ups for layers containing features that you want users to be able to click to get more information. Pop-ups are an important part of your story map because they enable you to provide your audience with text, images, graphs, and so forth, about specific features on the map. To configure pop-ups for a layer in a web map, click the layer's menu in the Contents window, and choose Configure Pop-up.

In your web map, zoom to the extent you want users to see when they first launch your story map, and click Save.

On the Save Map dialog box that appears, add a title, some tags, and a summary about your map. The title you specify will appear in the header at the top of your story map. The summary will appear as the subtitle under the title. Leave the Summary field blank if you don't want your story map to have a subtitle. (You can also modify what you specify here later.)

Share your web map. You can share publicly or, if you're using an ArcGIS subscription account, you have the option to share your map just inside your organization.

Click the Create a Web App button.

In the gallery of application templates that appears, browse to the Story Map Basic app, select it, and click Create App.

You'll then be prompted for information about the web mapping application you are publishing. You can accept the defaults that match what you already entered when you saved your web map. We recommend adding the additional tags Story Map and Basic too. Then click the Done button.

The Builder for configuring your story map appears. This lets you change some lets you change some layout options, choose a color scheme, and customize the logo that appears at the top of your story. Using your own logo is important because it adds authority to your story and shows people who created it. Your organization's logo and color scheme may already be reflected in your story if they have been set as defaults by your ArcGIS account administrator (this option is only available if you are using an ArcGIS subscription account). Be sure to specify a URL that your readers will be taken to when they click your logo, so they can find out more about your organization.

Save your changes, click Save and then click Close.

Congratulations! Your story map is now operational.

To access and manage your story map and the web map that it displays, go to My Content in ArcGIS Online or your organization's ArcGIS portal.

To make further changes to how your story is configured, click the small menu next to it in the My Content listing and choose View Item Details. This will open the entry in ArcGIS Online for the web app you have created. Click the Configure App button on that entry to launch the Story Map Basic Builder again.

You can continue to refine and modify the web map used in your story map after you have published it. For example, you might want to add more content, tweak the symbology or pop-ups, or change the initial extent that your audience sees. Simply go to My Content and open the web map in the ArcGIS Online map viewer. Changes you make to your web map will be automatically and immediately reflected in your story map: you don't need to republish it.

Note that your Story Map Basic stories currently do not appear in the My Stories section of this website. We will be supporting Story Map Basic in My Stories in a future release.