My 'ArcGIS Location Platform' account owns StoryMaps, but cannot edit – Do I transfer ownership to a public 'ArcGIS Online' account?

Question

Hi Folks, I've made a few ArcGIS StoryMaps and web maps during a US hackathon (a competition that Esri sponsored) in 2021, and a couple more the years after.
 I can view all of them in my profile's 'Item gallery' in my ArcGIS Location Platform account, E.g. these StoryMapshttps://jotf7jrosdhqj8bg.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=e9bc0b2fed02426fbbded98a6a640d09https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/e9bc0b2fed02426fbbded98a6a640d09 Aim: I am hoping to access them with edit permissions. Problem: despite being the owner, I can't edit them or access them on https://storymaps.arcgis.com/ I can't even login.

From what I understand, from https://support.esri.com/en-us/knowledge-base/error-hmm-there-seems-to-be-an-issue-we-were-unable-to--000027217 , https://doc.esri.com/en/arcgis-storymaps/latest/reference/licensing.html, and asking the chatbot.

My ArcGIS Location Platform account does not currently have the license to edit/create StoryMaps, while it might have in the past during the hackathon/a couple years after.

So, I guess that explains why I can't sign into StoryMaps with it to edit/create.

Solution:

I was advised by the Esri chatbot to transfer the ownership of the StoryMaps to a free public ArcGIS Online account (which I also have), or buy a license (which I don't want to for my limited use).

Question:

1. Are there any other solutions to freely edit my previously published StoryMaps?

2. Are there any unwanted side-effects from transferring ownership of StoryMaps from my ArcGIS Location Platform account to my public ArcGIS Online account?

I'm unsure what's the difference between both accounts to be honest.

Thanks!

StephanieW · Answer

Hi @JoeyKoh Location Platform by design does not include editing access with low or no code app builders. Both a public account or a paid subscription have the ability to use ArcGIS StoryMaps, however, public accounts have limitations listed in this document, including not being able to use embed in StoryMaps or the ability to publish/own hosted layers, or be a member of a group owned by an organizational account, so it may depend on what all you have in your StoryMaps if a public account is a viable option.

Copying or migrating content between accounts also comes with some considerations. Firstly, the supported way to do this is by using the ArcGIS API for Python, but there are some third party tools that have copy capability as well. Copying a StoryMap is more complex than just copying a hosted feature layer, this is because a StoryMap can contain many different resources (ex: images, videos) and references to other items (ex: layers or maps) that may be owned by the same account or not. When you copy complex content, like a StoryMap, between accounts, you need to factor this in by copying all of the resources over, and by managing items referenced by the StoryMap either through ownership or access from the sharing settings of the item being referenced. There are some resrouces available here.