idea Offline Story Maps in ArcGIS StoryMaps Ideas

Offline Story Maps

JohnBrushett — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 08:40:21 GMT

The ability to create an offline story map, in a similar fashion to creating a Map package or Arc reader project would be a useful functionality for sharing Story Maps as an output product between Portals hosted on different servers. This would mean products could be shared where direct connectivity between Portals is not possible for various reasons.

Re: Offline Story Maps

ChristophKönig1 — Tue, 03 Oct 2017 08:43:22 GMT

like in similar online presentation tools (for example prezi) , i would suggest to add the function to download the story map as an .exe file so it can used offline without a software!

Re: Offline Story Maps

EdHarrell2 — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 21:30:38 GMT

Beyond this idea, a briefing book template would be very welcome within the emergency management community. During Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria this year, there were many responders who could have used the ability to cache the latest incident information when they were out attempting to save lives and prevent suffering.

Re: Offline Story Maps

MikeHayward1 — Wed, 15 May 2019 13:54:33 GMT

This could build on the existing free ArcReader technology?

We are reaching roadblocks on many projects when it comes to sharing private ESRI content externally, with clients and partners who do not have ESRI technology. Anything that alleviates this issue would be welcome

Re: Offline Story Maps

MansurRussayev — Fri, 10 Jan 2020 12:23:19 GMT

We have requirements to use story maps in Airplanes during the VIP visits.

Re: Offline Story Maps

AmyWork3 — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 17:04:56 GMT

I am getting several questions from researchers who would like to take their StoryMaps offline so that they can share their work with communities around the world where internet connection is not reliable or not as accessible. As mentioned above, could someone have the option to export the StoryMap into some type of file that would enable offline exploration. Perhaps the file is stored on a laptop, or accessible through a phone or tablet.

I would think there would be limitations in the zoom functionality of any maps (defined by StoryMap creator)

As for embedded websites or videos, perhaps there are workflow considerations to enable either a screen shot of a website or videos would need to be included in ArcGIS Online.

Is this a consideration for StoryMaps or still not even on the radar for development?

Re: Offline Story Maps

OwenGeo — Thu, 02 Jul 2020 13:30:34 GMT

Amy Work Mansur Russayev Christoph König Ed Harrell Mike Hayward and others,

The StoryMaps team is looking into taking stories offline as a research topic, but as mentioned above there are many constraints and limitations with packing a dynamic, connected information product like a story created with ArcGIS StoryMaps.

One way to create a disconnected version of a story today is to export the story to a PDF using the existing Print feature found in the story header menu.

For those of you who are requesting an interactive version of a story in an offline state, we'd like to hear more about your needs and expectations for offline stories so we can direct our research efforts.

What other web content systems that you use provide an offline experience? Prezi was mentioned above. How does Prezi package external interactive embedded content?
Is a screenshot of dynamic media (like a video or embedded mapping app) sufficient for the offline version? If so, that is already available in a print/PDF version. What other needs are there that are not met by the print/PDF version of a story?

Re: Offline Story Maps

EdHarrell2 — Thu, 02 Jul 2020 14:32:50 GMT

My work with GIS technology often demands work in austere environments whether for emergency management or military operations. A PDF does some of the job but not like a dynamic map. Some of my work is with Collector/Survey123 that are available offline in a quasi-dynamic manner. That same capability to cache parts of a map would allow an incident staff to take a device in the field and work. Having that dynamic map would allow them to concentrate on the items of concern in their map and the features it shows.

Re: Offline Story Maps

Anonymous User — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 18:26:38 GMT

I work with a Land Conservation Trust and want to take story map content into the field as part of an Field Interpretive Guide. We have would have some video, audio and image content as well as narrative content explaining the area (based mobile device's tracked gps location). Explorer solves part of the problem, but not the guiding experience. Look forward to learning more about your roadmap and plans for StoryMaps.

Re: Offline Story Maps

MikeHayward1 — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 08:14:45 GMT

When I have exported StoryMaps to PDF in the past, the dynamic elements usually appear as a blank white box which makes it difficult to use a PDF even for demonstration purposes.

Similar to how Googlemaps downloads for offline (and Collector), could the mapping element be greatly simplified? Exporters could choose an area and zoom-level and a map with set zoom-levels built in (to reduce the data) is embedded into the Offline StoryMap?

I am assuming that most datasets would package down to a small size that could be embedded within a PDF or similar exported format, as for ArcReader, Collector and Map Packages.

Really, what we would like to be able to do, is share our content with those who do not have ESRI technology, without having to go fully public. This would showcase the StoryMap technology to people beyond ESRI's customers, and might be beneficial for ESRI. Perhaps an option for those with free ESRI accounts to view StoryMaps privately shared with them, but not to create etc. Autodesk have a similar functionality inside BIM 360 where content can be shared with groups of people who have the link, or specific email addresses.

Re: Offline Story Maps

TammySikma1 — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 17:59:12 GMT

Our County operates an historic living history site that would like to offer visitors with mobility issues a StoryMap that will include a history of each of the buildings onsite, including image galleries, video tours of the various buildings, and a map that shows visitors the original location of each of the buildings that have been moved on-site.

The museum team have already built 2 StoryMaps and they look terrific. Unfortunately, the internet access at the museum site is spotty and unable to run the StoryMap throughout.

They would like the ability to download a StoryMap onto tablets that they could lend to visitors. Alternately, allowing visitors to download the StoryMap onto their own devices using the public WiFi at the entrance before entering the site would also be an option.

Re: Offline Story Maps

frederiquetruchon — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 20:56:49 GMT

I work for a University Field Station and nature preserve for which I have developed a StoryMap for distribution among visitors. My team were impressed by the platform and would want to create more StoryMaps with the Map Tour feature over the next few years.

However, the big problem is that we have spotty service in the Natural Preserve where we want to use the StoryMaps, which makes us unable to run the StoryMap in its entirety. We would really benefit from visitors being able to download the StoryMap in some form before they head out on the trails. In a similar way as when you download a section of a map on Google Maps, for example, or as an app of some sort.

Are you still researching ways to make this possible? I loved working with your platform and would very much like to stick to it in the future, but our connection issues are sadly not about to be fixed.

Re: Offline Story Maps

rachelpapers — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 19:19:10 GMT

Thank you @OwenGeo for the info about printing Story Maps - I hadn't spotted that option. Your post was from a couple of years ago but I can't find anything to tell me that Story Maps are now offline and you asked for examples of what we'd use if for offline if available, so here's one example in case you're still interested:

I work in a rural area with inconsistent network availability but if we could use Story Maps offline I would use them for communicating operational programmes and site plans to field staff - the work is manual and attracts the kind of practical people who don't want to have to do too much reading...!

Story Maps feel like an idea way to package large area overview maps together with detailed constraint maps with policies/standards/procedures and site specific instructions without the user getting lost in swathes of paper/pdf pages because they provide the opportunity to:

show contextual information for relevant sites as users zoom the map
scroll quickly between screens that have pictures (and ideally "how to" video clips) as visual clues to changes in the package "chapters" so it's easy to navigate to site instructions without missing important general instructions
provide depth of information relevant to different purposes/levels of interest without clutter through links whilst keeping the universal critical messages prominent

So these are the features that we'd need in an offline product to make it useful.

And then there are probably minor things that would need to be consistent so it wasn't annoying to the operator - eg if the device went to sleep it would need to reawaken on the same page not the start of the story (I can't remember what Story Maps does now)

Although it would be great to be able to keep the maps up to date (with eg with Survey123 results of location of birds nests to be avoided as reported by third parties or sites that are completed as recorded by the operator) we could manage without that for starters - or for it to just update whenever they're online.

We would also have a use for "visitor orientated" story maps in an area of poor connection as mentioned by others. Especially if they could still use the device location.

PS I haven't tried this as I'd have to learn more about computers to implement it but whilst searching to find out whether StoryMaps were available offline yet I found a Github 2018 post about StoryMaps basic that explained how to do it - so good luck to anyone who has the knowledge to try it!:

Can the application be used offline?

Yes, by using Portal for ArcGIS and configuring the application to use the ArcGIS API for Javascript included with the Portal.

Change all references to the ArcGIS API for JavaScript in index.html to refer to your local copy of the API. Search for the references containing //js.arcgis.com/3.15 and replace this portion of the reference with the url to your local install. For example: //acme.com/gis/jsapi/jsapi where gis is the name of your Web Adaptor.

Re: Offline Story Maps

ReinaCMurray — Wed, 22 Jun 2022 21:21:44 GMT

The idea of being able to package a StoryMap is an intriguing one. Here's another use case for offline StoryMaps: as a geospatial data curator, I am tasked with preserving and archiving geospatial research data for my educational institution. When a researcher creates a StoryMap as part of their research output, our workaround has been to create a pdf of the StoryMap to include as part of that researcher's submission to the institutional data repository, as well as a link to the StoryMap in the ReadMe. This works, but isn't ideal -- over time, the link may no longer work or the StoryMap may not show properly (for example, I remember when Esri updated basemaps from raster to vector tiles, some of our old webmaps no longer displayed properly and had to be fixed). The pdf provides the reader with a sense of the StoryMap's content, but without the full experience of interacting with the data. Being able to package up a StoryMap and open it offline (provided the user sets up the right environment for it), would allow data curators to better preserve and archive these applications for future use and future reference.

Note, the preservation of web-based applications has become a big question in the data curation and preservation field, and there is interesting work being done on this question (see, for example, NYU https://guides.nyu.edu/blog/NYU-Wins-Major-Grant-From-Alfred-P-Sloan-Foundation-To-Expand-Capabilities-For-Archiving-Digita). Perhaps some ideas can be drawn from there.

Re: Offline Story Maps

OwenGeo — Thu, 23 Jun 2022 17:25:59 GMT

@ReinaCMurray -- Thanks for sharing this use case. Are there other websites that already provide this ability to create an offline/packaged version of web content that you can share as an example of the experience you are looking for?

Re: Offline Story Maps

rachelpapers — Fri, 24 Jun 2022 06:33:41 GMT

Thanks for getting in touch.
Not as far as I'm aware - though I'd describe myself as an end user IT ignoramus so I may not be the most useful reference! Perhaps there is some way of creating a similar experience by caching a web page (and its linked documents)? Our Comms team have started to use MS Sway for staff newsletters but I'm told that isn't available offline (they email a pdf version to staff who don't work in the office!). Even having our filing on the cloud now can be a pain because a document might not be retrievable whilst in the field unless it has been very recently used or has been actively made available offline.
I haven't actually looked for anything that would fit the bill because it's difficult to get IT approval for new products in the organisation where I work. As we use Esri for our inventory mapping I was hoping the process might be more straightforward!
I can introduce you to someone involved in IT developments in our organisation as they may be more useful! Though I'd have to explain to them what my suggestions meant!

Re: Offline Story Maps

Melinda_Kernik — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 16:55:57 GMT

I would like to second @ReinaCMurray's use case for having better offline representations of StoryMaps for archiving. While not all StoryMaps have enduring value, a substantial number of those created for research projects do.

For example projects connected to:
-dissertations, preliminary exams, or capstone projects
-virtual library exhibits describing archival materials held in collections
-contests or conference digital gallery sessions
-things that have been cited as part of the scholarly record

The creators of these StoryMaps often move between our university, other academic institutions, and beyond (through graduation and job transitions). Mechanisms for transferring StoryMaps between user accounts are not simple, the process breaks links, and maintaining an active copy isn't always the priority. It would be amazing to be able to create more accurate representations of StoryMaps that could persist beyond the retirement of the platform.

Some ideas for approaching this issue:
-Currently best practice for archiving a StoryMap is to archive the deconstructed pieces of a project (example). Having a method to more quickly download these component pieces (e.g. data from maps) would be very helpful. (It obviously could only include the content that is owned/accessible to the person attempting to download, but could include a list of links/resources that were used but not included in the package?)
-There are some newer generation archiving tools (such as Conifer) librarians use when attempting to capture dynamic content. Looking at what they collect, how they collect it, and how they store it could be a starting place for what a package might look like? (Note these tools don't completely work for StoryMaps)
-There is now the ability to export ArcGIS Pro maps as interactive maps. Even just having that functionality integrated into the printed PDF StoryMaps would be a great improvement!

Re: Offline Story Maps

SaraJL — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 15:08:22 GMT

It it was possible to export a StoryMap into a separate file, even if it was an ArcGIS format only, that could be potentially useful for preservation purposes.

We also have a lot of scenarios where students graduate and leave the college - their accounts are deleted after 3 years, so something like this would give them an easy way to back up their materials and keep them for future use. We use SAML authentication, so it's not possible currently to transfer content from one SAML account to a public ArcGIS Online account. But that would be possible if you could export a StoryMap like a Map Package, and then upload it to your own account.

(With the understanding that it would still be depended on if it needs credits, etc. That would obviously be subject to the abilities of the new account)