Map Tour Storytelling Template, problems getting it to work

[MichaelMachado]

I'm trying to use the storytelling map tour template and can't seem to get it to show up.  I've created the web app on ArcGIS Online, added some content, saved it, shared it publically, downloaded and configured the template.  When I click on the link, the page kind of opens but it never gets past the "Loading Application", doesn't load the data or start the tour.  Any assistance would be great.  Thanks

[RupertEssinger]

Hi RuthAnne,

What are you seeing in IE 8 when you try to access it? Do you get an error message, or does the app load partially, or do you get a message back from your server? Try doing a refresh in your browser if it doesn't load first time.

Could you also post the full URL to the map tour application that you are having problems with in IE 8. I've got the URL of the web map that you are using in the map tour:
http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=91aa6e7b8a164e86995fc96c90011f9b
but it would be good if we could test the URL of the map tour application you've installed on your server to see if we can view it OK.

Rupert

[MichaelMachado]

Hi,

Thanks, here is the link:  http://www.cityofmerced.org/applications/storytelling_zoo/

Hope it works for you.  Since the UC is just a couple of weeks away, will the update to the template be soon?  Just curious.

[RupertEssinger]

Hi RuthAnne

Sorry about the delay in replying. We can reproduce the issue where it doesn't load on IE 8.  The release date for the updated version for the fix is July 1st. Sorry about the issue.

How about deploying your map tour story map with an older version of the template for now? We recommend using the previous version of the map tour template if you have any issues with the current version. In your case this will let you move ahead now and support your IE 8 users. Here is the zip file location for the download of the previous version of the map tour:

https://github.com/leebock/map-tour-classic/archive/master.zip

You can download and deploy this in the same way as the one you are currently using. This version of the template works fine on all platforms but does not have the support for mobile devices that the current one does (but it works fine on the iPad and most other tablets in landscape (lengthways) mode). It does also not have a black popup label on the map to indicate the currently selected tour point. Note: this previous version of the template expects the map tour points layer in your web map to be called 'Locations' but you can override that default and tell it the name of your layer ('Zoo Residents' in your case) by editing the LOCATIONS_LAYER_TITLE parameter in the config section of the index.html file. Or you can just rename 'Zoo Residents' to 'Locations' in your web map and it will work.

Your map tour looks nice. I'd recommend including the name and state of your city into the title or the subtitle of the map tour, so that someone landing on it immediately knows where the zoo is located. The story maps can get hits from all around the world, so let your audience know where your tour is located 🙂

[MichaelMachado]

Thank you Rupert,

I've changed the name to include our town/state.  You know it is so close to the July 1st I think I'll just wait.  I've also been informed that our IT dept. will be upgrading all the computers IE starting in the next few weeks.

Should I just check back on 7/1 for the update?  Will I have to go thru the whole process again and put the update as a new file on the web server?

Thanks for your help.

RuthAnne

[RupertEssinger]

Hi Ruthanne

Yes you can check the map tour download page: http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=d4a2705a8b224e71961404542ae94c6f after that date to get the update. We'll also do a tweet about the update on https://twitter.com/EsriStoryMaps.

You'll have to delete all the template source files in the storytelling_zoo folder on your server, copy the files from the updated download into that folder, and then edit the new Index.html file to add the ID of your web map back into the configuration section, and modify any other parameters that you modified in the previous version. No need to do anything to your web map.

A couple more tips:

- How about making the subtitle of your map tour more inviting to entice people to check out the zoo. Up to you but it could say something like 'Meet the residents of our wonderful small zoo'.

- You could also use a different color marker symbol, like the blue one, for points of interest on the map which aren't animals. This might help people see where those facilities are distinct from the various animal enclosures. In the CSV, shapefile or feature service you use in the map tour, make the Icon_Color field value be B for the features you want to be blue.

[MichaelMachado]

Thanks Rupert, I'll take a look around the first.  Thanks also for the critique, good ideas, I'll give it a try.

[MichaelMachado]

one more question....I created another web app for just viewing the parks in our city.  I'm having trouble getting the thumbnail to work.  When I click on the link to change the thumbnail, and add the picture (formatted per the instructions), and click ok, there is nothing in the thumbnail but a circle with a slash through it.  I've tried both jpg and png.  Any suggestions would be helpful, thanks.

[RupertEssinger]

Hi RuthAnne
It's best to start a new forum thread about that so that other people can see the question more clearly. When you upload a thumbnail for a map or web app entry in ArcGIS Online, you have to press Save before you see the new thumbnail appear. So that might be the problem.

[MichaelMachado]

Thanks, if that doesn't work, I'll start a new thread.

[RupertEssinger]

PS.

Hi RuthAnne

Here's your map tour in the previous version of the template (click on the link below). As that version expects the map tour layer in your web map to be called Locations by default, I included a URL parameter that overrides that default and tells it the name of the layer in your map. (This is the URL to a demo/test installation of the original map tour template on our server.):

http://storymaps.esri.com/stories/demo/maptour-classic/?webmap=91aa6e7b8a164e86995fc96c90011f9b&loca...

Also, for your slide #2, you can make that URL in the caption into a clickable link if you want by including HTML formatting in the caption. See this article for an example of that.