How to add audio files into Story Maps from Google Drive?

[AlexandraCrowe]

Hi there, 

I found a few blog posts on here helpful, except I cannot get my story map to play my mp3 file from my Google Drive. The file has public internet access with full sharing settings but it still won't play. I have to right click on the audio control player and it links me to Google Drive's audio player but will not automatically play in my story map. Is there another site I can upload mp3 and a way to get these audio files to play in my Story Map journal? Could really use the help. Thank you in advance! Current code is in the picture.

[OwenGeo · Accepted solution]

Hello Alexandra -- Sorry you are having trouble getting your audio clip into a story map. To add an audio file from the web, the link you paste into Cascade Builder must be a direct link to an MP3 file, like this:

https://www.stpeterschorus.ca/extra/Mp3s/2005Spring/01%20O%20Canada.mp3 

The link in your screenshot is a link to a Google Drive page, not an MP3 file. Google Drive is a very useful personal file storage service, but it's not a file hosting platform. While you can use it to upload and share files with others, sharing is accomplished via Google Drive web pages (where your files can be downloaded or previewed by others) as opposed to direct file access. As far as I can tell, Google Drive's public sharing options do not allow you to provide others with direct HTTPS access to your uploaded files, which is what 3rd party applications like Cascade Builder require to access files.

To make your file available in your story you'll need to either upload the audio file directly in Cascade Builder or host it on a true web server or with a service that allows direct HTTPS access such as Amazon S3.