Move Express Map out of Briefing to a Story Map

[KatieMatthews]

I tried out Briefings and created an express map in there. Now I want to scrap my Briefing and use a Story Map instead. Is there a way to transfer my express map with all my pins into a new story map?

[PeterKnoop · Accepted solution]

I don't know of a way to do this in the StoryMaps app itself.

So far the best way I've found to do this requires modifying the JSON of the StoryMap using something like the ArcGIS Assistant. Below are the steps we share with our users, if they are willing to take on the risk of working directly with a story's JSON.

1. Not required, however, if you're not comfortable working with JSON, then I would recommend making duplicates of your Briefing and StoryMap. Follow the remaining steps below using those copies until you are comfortable.
2. Edit your destination StoryMap and add an Express Map block as a placeholder.
3. It is not required, however, I would recommend publishing your StoryMap at this point, so that you can work on the draft version, and revert to this published version if something goes wrong.
4. In ArcGIS Assistant, go to your Briefing and View Item JSON.
5. Switch to the Data tab, from the default Description tab.
6. In the "nodes" section, identify the node that contains the Express Map in your Briefing that you want to copy, and note it's id (e.g, "n-f9qxjg".)
7. Look for that node's id in the "resources" section (near the bottom of the JSON), and note the listed itemId (e.g., "expressmap_1711645656520.json".)
8. Now switch to the Resources tab at the top.
9. Identify the resource(s) that represent your Express Map block in your Briefing. There should be one json resource whose name begins with draft_expressmap, which represents the current version of your Express Map in the draft version of your Briefing. If you have published your Briefing, then there should be a second resource with the same id, but whose name begins with pub_expressmap. If you you have no unpublished changes in your Briefing, then the two are the same. Otherwise, decide which version of you Express Map you want to copy to your StoryMap, the draft or published version.
10. Click on the name of the Express Map json file that you want to copy (either draft or published), and copy the entire content of the file. (If needed, save it somewhere temporarily, as there a number of steps before you need to paste it.)
11. Now go to your StoryMap in ArcGIS Assistant and View Item JSON.
12. Switch to the Data tab.
13. In the "nodes" section, identify the placeholder Express Map block that you added, and note its id.
14. Look for that node's id in the "resources" section, and note the listed itemId.
15. Now switch to the Resources tab.
16. Identify the resources that represent your placeholder Express Map in your StoryMap. As before, there should be two resources, a draft_expressmap and a pub_expressmap, assuming you followed the advice above and published your StoryMap.
17. Click on the name of the draft_expressmap to open the JSON view of it.
18. Click on the "Edit resources" button in the top-right to enable editing the JSON content.
19. Replace all of the JSON with what you copied from the Briefing resource item, and hit "Save." (I would recommend replacing only the draft version at this time, then viewing your StoryMap in edit mode, and only then publishing your StoryMap if you happy with what you have done. If something has gone wrong, then you can discard unpublished changes to revert to your original version of the StoryMap.)
20. Now open your StoryMap in edit mode and you should see the Express Map you copied from your Briefing has replaced your empty placeholder Express Map. 

[KatieMatthews]

Thank you very much for this detailed response. I'm a newbie to story maps and ArcGIS in general so I don't think I'm comfortable modifying the JSON . . . but I'll keep this info in case I end up trying it with someone's help. Appreciate it!

[KatieMatthews]

@PeterKnoopI did it today and IT WORKED! I had to start with a fresh brain today haha Thank you so much for your detailed and easy to follow instructions!

[Josef_Strobl]

Somehow related to that question, I would like to copy individual slides from one briefing to another ... suggestions, anyone?

[ATFerguson]

I've used the Python API to "copy" various storymap elements into a briefing. Some object types are relatively straightforward and others were tricky in that they lacked API support so I had to do some "manual" JSON construction/editing.

Since this post is specifically regarding ExpressMaps, I'll mention that ExpressMaps were among the more difficult object types to transfer programmatically, because, per the API documentation, "You can only create an ExpressMap [Python object] from a pre-existing expressmap in a story or briefing. You cannot create an ExpressMap from scratch." As such, in order to copy an expressmap from StoryMap to Briefing, I had to manually edit the briefing item JSON. This requires admin rights on the server (Note: I'm running ArcGIS Enterprise - not sure if this would even be possible on AGOL).