Map scale on different screen sizes

Anonymous User

So while collaborating with a colleague we noticed scaling difference between his screen and mine. Due to the virus I've been building story maps at home on my laptop. So when I set the scale I didn't take into account a difference in screen sizes.

Here is on my screen;

But on his it it looks like this;

He suggested zooming in so the map takes up the screen. Here is mine;

His looks way better;

I am using an HP ZBook 15 G3 15.6" display. I think his monitors are 23".

I know when editing you can see how this will look on three different types of screen (monitor, tablet, and phone), but will there be a capability to set the map extent on one screen and that is how it will show up on all?

oevans_storymaps

Hi Bryan -- Yep, we are considering some future enhancements that might help address this.

Getting a dynamic map to display exactly the same as it looks when you author it in every other readers' browser window size and aspect ratio is a challenging problem. Although you might want the extent to be the same everywhere on this map, you (or another author) might want the zoom level to be the same on another map. There isn't a one-size-fits-all approach.

On large screens, maps show at the same zoom level and center point as when the author placed them in the story. This may cause some of the edges of the map that were visible on one screen to be cropped out on another screen, but the scale level will the the same.

On smaller screens, maps show the same extent at which the map was placed. This might cause the map to be zoomed out and shown at a different zoom level. This can be especially pronounced across differences in screen aspect ratio.

We selected this as the best compromise between these competing factors for most situations. But, as you noted, there are still situations where this does not achieve the desired experience. One of the the things we're considering is exposing these options as an author setting: show the same map area vs. show the same zoom level/center point. Would that address your concerns? Are there any other issues you've noticed with setting map extent in your stories?