Is it better to store images on a server that are then referenced in the story map or drag/drop images from computer and have them stored with the story map? Wondering which is the best route? I'm creating my feature class and wondering if I should carry the urls in the table.
Thanks.
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Crystal, because your images are very large, we would highly recommend uploading the images in the app and letting the app store a copy of your photo. This automatically optimizes the images for the web and will create the second thumbnail size for you. If you just reference the full resolution images, you will find that your story is very slow to load, especially on slower internet connection. We recommend that all photos used in story maps be less than 500kb to make sure they load quickly. If you need to keep the image referenced on your server, you should create two new images (one thumbnail, and one web optimized photo) for each photo. For each of our apps that allow you to reference images by a URL, we have guidelines in our FAQ to help provide the best experience to your viewer: Frequently Asked Questions | Story Maps.
Besides just optimizing them for the web, managing them in the app will make sure they are always available when the app is available. They follow the same sharing permissions as the app and you will not have to worry about breaking links if you move your photos to a different folder on your server.
Crystal,
How big are the images to be stored? If the size of the images is pretty large, storing them on the server and then referencing in the story map would be a better option. If the size of the images is not big, you can just drag/drop images.
What urls you are referencing here? Are these urls images?
The images range from 2-10MB.
For the images on the server, I was going to copy the web urls for them and paste them in my feature class under the pic_url and thumb_url fields. That way, when I create the story map, they should appear.
Crystal,
I would recommend you to store the images in the server since your images range in between 2 and 10 MB. Also, you should carry the urls in the table.
Good luck!
Crystal, because your images are very large, we would highly recommend uploading the images in the app and letting the app store a copy of your photo. This automatically optimizes the images for the web and will create the second thumbnail size for you. If you just reference the full resolution images, you will find that your story is very slow to load, especially on slower internet connection. We recommend that all photos used in story maps be less than 500kb to make sure they load quickly. If you need to keep the image referenced on your server, you should create two new images (one thumbnail, and one web optimized photo) for each photo. For each of our apps that allow you to reference images by a URL, we have guidelines in our FAQ to help provide the best experience to your viewer: Frequently Asked Questions | Story Maps.
Besides just optimizing them for the web, managing them in the app will make sure they are always available when the app is available. They follow the same sharing permissions as the app and you will not have to worry about breaking links if you move your photos to a different folder on your server.
Are there any negatives to storing the images in the app?