Improve Map Action: Possibility to highlight features

[MattiasEkström]

I've been working on some map actions lately and I feel they're too limited.

I would like to be able to not just zoom to a specific feature, but also highlight is some how. By make it selected or set a custom symbol or something else to make it stand out more.
If I describe several near by features in my story and want the user to be able to identify the corresponding feature in the map, I need some kind of highlighting function.

[AaronKoelker]

A built-in highlight option would be neat for quick stuff -- but as a workaround in the meantime (or for advanced highlighting!), you can achieve this effect by putting two copies of the same layer/dataset into your web map, and then changing the symbology for one of them to be your 'highlight' look. Then, when you are setting up the map action, toggle off the visibility for your default copy and turn on the highlight copy. That should pull off the same effect, albeit with a little more work.

[OwenGeo]

We have this on our list, but there are a few technical challenges we're facing with implementing our preferred experience. We'll continue to monitor this idea for interest to prioritize further research in this area.

For now, as a workaround, you could create a duplicate layer with alternate styling that highlights the feature in question and toggle that on in a map action to call out a specific feature or area of the map.

[OwenGeo]

Sorry, Aaron, I didn't see your reply before posting mine. 🙂

[MattiasEkström]

Thanks for the workaround tip Aaron (and Owen).
This can be useful for a few features, but say you have 20+ features you want to describe and highlight with map actions then it's too much work... So I'm hoping the technical challenges are solved soon and we'll see a built-in highlight option in a future release.

[MattiasEkström]

Maybe this is a whole different idea, but if the technical challenges are mostly related to the "connection" between the story map action and the actual feature in the data source. Another route would be to be able to add a simple sketch layer to the map from a map action. Then you could point out you feature with an arrow, ring och something and maybe even add explaning lables.

Of course that solutions has it's downsides but it could also be useful for a lot of other stuff, but I don't know, it might come with other even more challenging technical issues 🙂

[KathrynHailes]

Hi, Just wondering if there has been any news on if the technical challenges have been overcome and if this feature is likely to be implemented in the near future?

Many thanks

[SaraJL]

Whoops - I also just realized I posted a similar idea. I was thinking similar to how the ArcGIS Dashboard actions work: https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-storymaps-ideas/map-actions-gt-highlight-feature/idi-p/1405180

For the way it works in Dashboards, it does require some type of layer linking in order for the program to understand what to highlight, which makes sense.