How to host a custom story map on a web server?

[EricThornhill]

Hello,

I am trying to create a custom story map journal which follows instructions on the following page:

https://developerscorner.storymaps.arcgis.com/navigate-map-journal-sections-using-the-mainstage-map-... 

I acquired the four pieces of information required from my web map and online feature class and then downloaded the source code for a MJ story map off Esri, then edited the index.html and custom-scripts.js codes in atom with the following parameters:

Webmap ID = 20a22fe25369421bbfafb72ad5240d2a

Field name = ID

Layer ID = Venezuela_Cities_Key_facts_1513

App ID = be09c0763f274b80a52c308da1e17403&edit

I then saved both these codes, however the last step in the above link just says "now simply upload all the application files to your webserver." I'm fairly new to this and don't know much about even creating your own web server. Is there any step by step instructions for A. Setting up your own free web server and B. How to upload all necessary app files to that web server and of course how to get it up and running after that.

Thanks,

Eric

[RupertEssinger]

Hi Eric

We don't provide specific steps for deploying your custom code on a web server because there are so many different possible ways of doing it.

You most likely don't need to set up a web server yourself. For example, this process be as simple as asking your IT folks or the administrator of your company's or organization's public web server to create a folder with your custom source code installed in it. The folder location they install the code in becomes part of the URL for your customized Story Map. Or if your organization's website is hosted using some third party hosting service you, or someone with access, can simply login to that and upload the files. For example I created a Map Tour that was self-hosted on the website of a non-profit that I volunteer for. Their website is hosted on http://www.ipage.com for a small monthly fee. They gave me the login info for their iPage account and I just created a folder and uploaded my customized version of the Map Tour code into it. That immediately made my Map Tour accessibly publicly and I could then share the URL with people and also add a link to the Map Tour to their home page.

Hope that helps.

Rupert

[EricThornhill]

Thanks Rupert.

I'm not with a company so I'll be doing this on my own. I like the option of hosting on someones site for a small fee. But how easy is it to actually get your story map up and running if I go with http://www.ipage.com? Do I just simply upload all the files (index.htm & all JS) and then it's up and running, or is it a bit more complicated than that?

Best,

Eric

[RupertEssinger · Accepted solution]

Hi Eric, yes the actual deployment of the files is pretty straightforward.  It's one of those things that sounds hard if you are new to it. On the Story Maps Resources page: Resources | Story Maps  scroll down to the "If You're a Developer" section for some general resources about customizing the Story Map app code, including this useful Introduction to Hosting A Story Map App blog post. Note that there may be free options for hosting files on the web you can access. You can also set up the built-in ISS server on Windows-based PCs so you can at least test your customization on your machine using 'localhost'. I'm not a dev so other folks may want to pipe in on this.

Rupert