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Storymap: Need smaller zoom increments--maps in sidecar

lzk222

The zoom in/zoom out buttons steps are too large. At one zoom level political boundaries are too small, at the the next level they are cut off...I need an in between zoom level. Any suggestions on how to do this? This is for a map in a sidecar Storymap element, but is a general issue for all webmaps/experiences.

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oevans_storymaps

@CoMAGOL_ADMINISTRATOR, @lzk222 -- Thanks for sharing your feedback about map navigation. Although the buttons zoom in at full intervals, you can zoom to any scale by using a keyboard shortcut. Simply hold down SHIFT and drag the box to cover the exact extent you want to zoom in to.

@lzk222 -- There is a map configuration that is useful for situations where you want the exact extent of your map to be preserved when others view your StoryMap. In the map options, make sure Map view is set to Preserve extent. If that is the case and you still see different extents on different screen sizes, please provide the link to the story so we can investigate.

Screenshot 2025-10-23 at 9.53.39 AM.jpg

CoMAGOL_ADMINISTRATOR

This functionality (zoom in/out buttons that allow for half or quarter integer zoom levels) would be incredibly useful, and would really uplift and polish all of our online mapping products. Many of our users are used to this level of zoom granuality from other mapping platforms (mapbox/google maps).

lzk222

Maybe this is semantics, but I don't think the issue is scale. It's zoom level. ESRI zoom in/out buttons seem to be configured for only whole integer steps. Whereas what I'm seeking is a modification to the zoom in/out buttons that allow for half or quarter integer steps. E.g. Google Maps.

It may be hard to see, but the z level in the url goes from 13z to 13.25z. This is the gradation I'd like to see in ESRI online maps which, in this example, would only be able to go from 13z to 14z.

lzk222

To highlight just how frustrating this is.

How the storymap displays to me (1920 x 1080).

How it displays to my boss (1024 x 768) 😕

lzk222

Thanks @OwenGeo. On this somewhat different but relevant topic, would it be possible to set zoom level based on original extent? Right now it seems like zoom level stays constant across devices where what should stay constant is the extent of the original map. Building off this, could it be possible to create an enhancement where boundary of display feature (Nevada, in my case) is set such that no matter what the screen size the preset boundary is always fully displayed?

Alternatively, and probably more realistically, would it be possible to add feature where zoom level can be customized for various device screen sizes? Experience builder provides many different screen size previews. Something akin to this but with the option to actually set the zoom for each one. Right now I don't see an option to even preview StoryMaps in other screen sizes, never mind setting a customized initial view.

Example from Experience Builder. Screenshot 2023-09-27 133945.png

Thanks,

Lukas

oevans_storymaps

Thanks for sharing this feedback! There isn't a way to set a specific scale at this time. Also, it's worth mentioning that even if you could set a specific scale, all readers may not get the exact experience you expect since sidecar media panels are responsive, which means they can be different sizes/aspect ratios depending on the screen size/shape the story is viewed on.

There are some additional configuration options we could consider to provide more fine-grained control over the map extent/zoom level, but there are some tradeoffs we'll need to think through. I'd encourage that you submit an idea on the ArcGIS StoryMaps Ideas Board so others can upvote this idea and provide additional information about how it might be valuable to them.

KathrynHailes

I too have this problem all of the time. It would be fantastic if there was a way around this limitation.

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