Storymap - Issues with swipe block

[chiara_c]

The images added to the swipe block do not show up (A).. only when I click the expand button they properly appear (B). Could it be related to the big size of the images? Unfortunately with the swipe block, images cannot be embedded using a link.. this would have make the images lighter within the storymap.

(A)

(B)

[Josh_Ittenbach]

I'm seeing the same issue in Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. It's also appearing in Chrome and Safari on iOS. 

The swipe block was working properly for several months. Resizing the browser window seems to temporarily fix things.

Here's my story map collection (swipe block on page 2): https://www.leegov.com/water

Josh

[OwenGeo]

@chiara_c -- Sorry you are having an issue with swipe; that certainly isn't expected. Does the same thing happen if you create a new swipe and try again? Can you share the images here so we can take a look? We have seen some rare issues with image file metadata that can sometimes cause images not to load.

> Unfortunately with the swipe block, images cannot be embedded using a link.. this would have make the images lighter within the storymap.

Actually, the opposite is true. 🙂 When you upload an image, the story builder does a lot of optimization and creates and caches compressed and resized images depending on the device the reader is using. When you link to an image on the web there is no optimization at all, so the full-sized image is loaded all the time, which can be slow especially on mobile devices or devices with slower connections.

[Josh_Ittenbach]

@OwenGeo - Thanks for the quick reply!

I'm able to duplicate the issue with a new swipe block in a new story map. Attached are my images.

Hope that helps,

Josh

[OwenGeo]

@chiara_c @Josh_Ittenbach -- Thanks for the additional info. This is an issue that we identified recently and it will be fixed in our next update, which is later this week. Check back Thursday and your swipes should be working as expected.

[chiara_c]

Hi @wOwen great! Thanks for your prompt reply! We have planned to launch the storymap with the community later this week and it would be great if you are able to solve the problem earlier 😉 

Thanks also for the detailed explanation re the difference between upload and link and image. However, in my limited experience I can tell you that if I link images (e.g., previously uploaded in Flickr or Pinterest) I get better results... images load faster. I will pay more attention from now on 😉 

Attached the images we used in the swipe.

  

[OwenGeo · Accepted solution]

The fix for this issue is deployed. I verified the story above is working as expected. Please let us know if you still see any issues.