Image Annotation Tool

[SaraJL]

I wish there was a way to add an image (non georeferenced one - like a JPEG or PNG) and be able to add markers or tie this to actions in the sidecar. Right now I usually create an annotated image in another program (like Genially) and embed it in order to create the annotated image effect. Being able to annotate the images directly in Story Maps would be amazing though!

[OwenGeo]

@SaraJL -- A few weeks ago we added the new image editor to ArcGIS StoryMaps. You can read about it here: What's New in ArcGIS StoryMaps (November 2022) (esri.com)

Please check it out and let us know if this meets your needs.

[SaraJL]

@OwenGeo thank you for sharing the info! That is neat but doesn't do what I need - the image editor is more for adjusting images.

I'm looking for more interactivity! Something similar to this example I've used for tech demos: A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains

It's a little more reader guided - it could also potentially give users a way to annotate static maps. It's great for beginner GIS users who may not have access to Pro in order to georeference images.

Thank you for the help!

[PeterKnoop]

@SaraJL not as simple a workflow as you are describing, however, if you have access to ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online, then you don't need Pro for georeferencing your images. Since you don't care about the specific geographic "location" of your image, you can just arbitrarily georeference it. Then you can use it as a web map on which you can overlay other data layers for annotation, or use it as a basemap which you can annotate in an Express Map. One way to do this is described in Interactive Images in StoryMaps.

[R_C_Miessler]

Definitely interested in this. I would envision something similar to the Gigapixel StorymapJS functionality: https://storymap.knightlab.com/gigapixel/

[SaraJL]

There has been a couple of years since this post - but I wanted to share that I was eventually able to figure out an easy solution for this!

I went to one of the K-12 webinars and learned how to add a image to a Web Map and turn it into an interactive image that we can annotate in StoryMaps. That seemed to solve a lot of what we needed to do.

Of course, I had to test it on a map of Middle Earth What else would I test it on? 😁

Thanks everyone!