By Madison Sink

Story Mapping Venture Grants

Story Maps is a creative storytelling application that uses map-based narratives, complemented by
multimedia capacities like embedding videos, photos, web links and other media.

 It is essential to have an account with ArcGIS Online (AGO) to create a Story Map. If you don’t have
one, email Beth Scaffidi (beth.scaffidi@coloradocollege.edu)

First, you’ll need to decide the type of story you want to tell. This depends on your data and your
narrative. There are plenty of options, with complete examples, listed on Story Maps webpage:
http://storymaps.arcgis.com/en/app-list/

 Depending on the particular app you want, there are different options for beginning your story.
Some apps have a Map Builder that allows for a more guided experience, such as with a Journal or a
Series. The Builder walks you through the steps necessary to set up your project. Other apps can be
downloaded and configured manually, and come with step-by-step instructions for each app. Because
the process to build each app varies, it is important to read the instructions for that specific app. Ask
Google!

5 Principles of Effective Storytelling:

http://storymaps.arcgis.com/en/five-principles/

Workflow to Update Venture Grants Basemap

•Host and publish images on

Media
.CMS
•Upload videos to YouTube
•Gather links to relevant
resources

•Populate fields, include lat/long OR street address

Excel •Write HTML code directly into fields to embed images,

create hyperlinks, etc.
•Convert to .CSV/.TXT

ArcGIS •Import .CSV/.TXT and view data

•Edits can be made directly in AGO, but

Online should be made in Excel to maintain

data integrity

Story •Use the "Builder" to

configure your app

Maps
•Layer data cannot
be edited here
 By Madison Sink
Media
 Photo submissions should be limited to 1 photo per student. Accompanying text can be copied
directly into the .CSV worksheet under the student’s respective row.
o Photos and other digital media are hosted on dotCMS and can be found in
Other>GIS>Venture Grant [Photos/Videos]
o Sign in to dotCMS using your own credentials
 Video is most compatible on YouTube. Students will presumably host their own video
submissions. There is a folder on dotCMS for videos such as Venture Grant presentations.
 Take note of where to find the embed source codes for respective medias

Excel
The fastest, safest way to import your data is as a .csv (or .txt) file. This involves building your dataset in
Excel, exporting as a .csv, and uploading it to ArcGIS Online as a layer. The layer is then linked to Story
Maps, and changes made to the layer in AGO will be reflected in the Story Map.
 Data should be inputted using the same guidelines as Excel for ArcGIS Desktop
o There must be either lat/long fields (in decimal degrees) or address fields to locate in AGO
 In the interest of minimizing clutter, only add lat/long points for students who have
submitted content
o Include links to student blogs, news articles, and other digital media in the description
o HTML code (including links and font styles) should be written directly into the fields
 Consistency is key – these are the standardized styles I use for pictures and videos:
 Video: <iframe width="200" height="150" src="INSERT ADDRESS HERE"
frameborder="0"></iframe>
 Photo: <img src="INSERT ADDRESS HERE" style="width:170px;height:140px;">
 If the photo is portrait oriented, swap the pixel width and height.
 NOTE: These are not the best dimensions for every photo submission. Adjust
the pixel width and height accordingly.
 Photo Hyperlink: <a href=“SAME ADDRESS AS PHOTO”>
 Input the hyperlink code first, then the image code, and close with </a>
 Updating Note: As student submissions are received, add the area/region of the project in
parenthesis next to the students’ name, so that it can be found easily by viewers
o Double-check the lat/long points – do all students with submitted content have
coordinates? Are those coordinates correct?
 Editing note: It is recommended to make edits to the .csv file directly (via Excel), instead of re-
exporting a new version from a .xlsx every single time an edit is made. Some fonts and
symbologies don’t translate well during export, so editing the file directly will prevent extra
cleanup and frustration.
 *Note: Story Map Tour allows users to upload a .csv directly into the app, without going through
AGO. See Resources for Story Map Tour for more on that.
 Save As… .csv OR .txt and CLOSE DOCUMENT
COPY AND PASTE LINK INTO BROWSER:
https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-online/reference/csv-gpx.htm
https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-online/create-maps/add-layers.htm

ArcGIS Online
Log in to ArcGIS Online and open the relevant basemap, or create a new one to import your data. You can
also access all relevant maps by signing into the Story Maps webpage and clicking “My Stories.”
 By Madison Sink
 If you are updating an existing layer, remove the old layer first, and then add the updated version
by clicking Add… Layer from file… and select the .csv from your hard drive.
 Import the layer, select “student” as the attribute to show and “Unique Symbols” as the drawing
style.
o Click “Unique Symbols” and change the legend settings so that all the points in the layer are
displayed in the legend (scroll through the legend and click the double arrows to expand)
 Once the layer is imported, configure the pop-up settings:
o Popup Title: student (location)
o Configure attributes: Do not show latitude, longitude, or student fields (student was just set
as the title)
 View data and if necessary, make edits in the .csv/.txt, remove and re-upload layer to update
o CHECK ALL NEW OR UPDATED LAT/LONG POINTS FOR LOCATIONAL ACCURACY
 New information often leads to new coordinate points!
 Maps must be shared publicly for people to view them in Story Maps without an AGO
account

Story Maps
 Story Maps will automatically update as maps are updated in AGO (please allow time for lag – it
may take the better part of a day for Story Maps to catch up)
 Stylistic edits can be made through the web AppBuilder
Tips for sharing and embedding maps:
http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2013/02/04/embedding-story-maps/
http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2015/04/22/tips-embed-story-maps-websites/
Embed Story Map within a Story Map (Ex: Swipe Map w/in a Series Map):
http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2015/04/21/embed-story-map-in-story-map/

HTML Resources
Story Maps uses HTML source code to embed links, change font colors, etc.
Basics: http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_basic.asp
Links: http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_links.asp
Images: http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_images.asp
YouTube: http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_youtube.asp

Resources for Story Map Series

Start Here: http://storymaps.arcgis.com/en/app-list/map-series/tutorial/
Launch a Series at a specific tab/bullet (ex: year 2014-2015):
http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2015/04/13/how-to-launch-a-story-map-series-at-a-specific-entry/
Adding 3D Scenes: http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2015/03/20/using-web-scenes-in-story-maps/

Resources for Story Map Tour

This is the most popular App. For complete tutorials, start here:
http://storymaps.arcgis.com/en/app-list/map-tour/tutorial/
http://www.esri.com/esri-news/arcwatch/0513/make-a-map-tour-story-map
http://blogs.cornell.edu/onlinegis/files/2014/01/Part-2-Creating-Basic-Story-Maps-sk401a.pdf

Story Map Tour with your mobile phone (and other useful tips):
http://acseblog.com/2014/01/16/cemetery/
 By Madison Sink

Launch a Story Map Tour at a specific start point:

*Note: The map zoom level will be the zoom you would see if the tour was launched at the beginning.
Auto-zoom settings for subsequent tour stops (if one has been set) are not currently respected.
http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2015/03/23/how-to-launch-a-story-map-at-a-specific-start-point/

Things I still don’t understand

JavaScript API and configuring a self-hosted app (like a shortlist):
https://github.com/Esri/shortlist-storytelling-template-js
http://downloads.esri.com/blogs/places/shortlist/Readme.pdf
https://developers.arcgis.com/javascript/jshelp/intro_webmap.html
https://developers.arcgis.com/javascript/jssamples/
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/arcgis-web-map-json/

AppBuilder can be accessed through AGO, but the templates are not configurable in the way they are with
the downloadable app, or even with Portal or Developer.