Map Choreography: How to make an ArcGIS StoryMap sing and dance

An ArcGIS StoryMap is just a great way to present a geographic narrative. Here's some advice about how to set up a scene in a StoryMap where you zoom and fly around in a map to guide the reader through just what you want them to see. The map is brimming with stories. You are the choreographer.
Here are links to some of the examples you saw in this video:
Challenger Deep: storymaps.arcg...
NYC taxis: arcgis.com/app...
World happiness: arcgis.com/app...
What do you call a mountain pass: arcgis.com/app...
Social vulnerability: storymaps.arcg...
Drought: arcgis.com/app...
Enclaves: storymaps.arcg...
Curious about how I made the Life Expectancy used map in the example? www.esri.com/a...
Here's an Esri blog post with some more advice about this. www.esri.com/a...
This blog post from Cooper Thomas is really detailed and useful: www.esri.com/a...
Check out some other social channels where I share how-to's and updates on random map adventures:
adventuresinmap...
www.esri.com/a...
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/ johnmnelson
/ johnmnelson

[@chunhangchan8801]

Hey John, Thank you so much for this tutorial this was amazing, I wish to see more content about arcGIS story map in the future!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

@@chunhangchan8801 good idea!

[@yelena4612]

Thank you so much, John. I am making Storymaps all the time and did not even think about using map choreography in them. Live and learn. 🙂

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

You bet! Happy mapping.

[@burungnesiaapp]

amazing! always love to watch your tutorial 🥰

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thanks!

[@ariefrossiramadhan5376]

thank you john, really inspiring

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thanks!

[@Guetzer]

Great content as always, John!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thanks Guetzer!

[@dominiontheory]

Thank you John I'munna try this :)

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Great!

[@RubenBruijning]

"I choose floating for the reason I like it better" Best. Reason. EVER!!!!! Salutations as usual from the Netherlands!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

we houden van wat we leuk vinden! bedankt Ruben!

[@shroog5130]

Thank you, that was great 👍🏼

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

You're very welcome!

[@superseasnails8368]

This is just the tutorial I needed thank you!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

ah great, thanks!

[@ComradeMuffin.]

This video helped me so much. I’m a bit late to the show but thank you.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Wonderful! Thanks!

[@MLKYWY503]

Love this!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

thanks Angela!

[@savagecabbage895]

Noice work bro

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

@@savagecabbage895 thanks!

[@travisr3980]

Damn you're a good teacher.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

i appreciate that, Travis!

[@user-wt4ee4ro6g]

Thanks. Nice yard.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thank you!

[@PottersWork]

Thank you for this video, it's exactly what I needed! Do you know if there is a way to make the fly-to transitions a little slower between slides?

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

this is a new feature being developed by the javascript API, which is an underlying tech. hopefully in the future the Story builder will expose that option.

[@PottersWork]

Thank you for that info John! And thanks again for sharing your knowledge, your video helped me tremendously @@JohnNelsonMaps

[@Ahmedali_-qd9eg]

nice!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thanks!

[@louisolson9192]

In your last StoryMap you have tabs at the top. How do you add tabs in StoryMap?

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

at the top of your story, choose the "Design" button, which slides open a panel of options for your story. In it, there's a section called "Optional story sections". Activate the "Navigation" option. Here's more info: doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-storymaps/author-and-share/add-story-navigation.htm

[@treyhull8424]

Any reason why you'd choose this method over the Map Tour feature? Don't get me wrong, it looks really cool, I'm just curious.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thanks! Map tour is very specific in its use so there are limited features.

[@favouridogun-dw1ji]

Hi, this was a very informative video, thank you. Please i wanted to ask where do you get your data from.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thanks! A lot of my data comes from the ArcGIS Living Atlas

[@Reinforesta]

Thanks so much for the inspiration! Any chance you've done a tutorial on the fantastic symbology on the maps at 7:46 and 7:55?

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

hi Megan, thanks! yes! you can find a how-to for those maps here: www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/analytics/analytics/happy-maps/ it's before i started making videos, but should get you there.

[@Reinforesta]

@@JohnNelsonMaps Thanks so much! It's a really great way of presenting multiple variables. Well done!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

@@Reinforesta thanks!

[@bobsage]

The graphics on that intro globe map are pretty snazzy.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thanks Bob!

[@StarshipsSteel]

John, we handed in our final StoryMap project on Friday. Why you release this NOW!?!?

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Wha! You’ll love this: I made it Thursday!

[@StarshipsSteel]

@@JohnNelsonMaps :D hahahhahaa

[@KellieVlastos]

No fresh eggs today :/ Thanks for the great tutorial, though!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

😂

[@99auburngirl]

hey everyone i have a Storymaps problem I really need help with. I am trying to make a storymap of projects in different phases (complete, under construction, etc). I currently have it set up where i have my webmap with the layers that have the polygons on them and a sidecar with a list of the project names. each project name has a map action associated so that when you click on the project name in the sidecar, the map zooms to that project area. BUT i also want it to open the attribute table for that project when it zooms so you can see the project date, cost, and other info. i can not figure out how to do this in the new version of storymaps, please help!!!!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

if it were me, i'd format the layer's popup to look and show what i wanted, and have that open in the map action. i think you can have a popup automatically open via a map action.

[@99auburngirl]

@@JohnNelsonMaps Yes i have that configured but for some reason when i set the map action (zoom to the area, select the polygon to have the popup open) and save, when i go to play the map action it only does the zoom and does not do the popup part of the map action. im wondering if this is just a bug or something?

[@99auburngirl]

@@JohnNelsonMaps I know having the popup open as part of a map action was possible on the older version of Storymaps bc I have an old map on a website that does it but I am starting to think that the new version doesn't have that capability.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

​@@99auburngirl i asked the storymaps team about it and they sent me this. maybe it's helpful? support.esri.com/en-us/knowledge-base/how-to-enable-hover-popups-in-arcgis-storymaps-000021047 sort of a clunky workaround. the team said they are going to support visible popups in early 2024. sorry for the inconvenience!

[@99auburngirl]

@@JohnNelsonMaps Thank you for checking on that John! Unfortunately that workaround only enables hover over popups. It also requires you to embed the map which then disables to map action capabilities so id lose the zoom in feature. Hopefully they'll get that fix in soon!