Can outside users add data to story maps in a website-like platform?

[MatthewBrandt]

I'm wanting to use a story map as a website for public outreach and engagement with the design and implementation of a small city's general plan. Ideally, the platform would have both static, informational media content as well as a base map, or a series of base maps, that are editable by the general public. The main idea behind using a story map as a platform is to visualize data that is pertinent to the general plan and the community in general, for instance more isolated residential and commercial areas with potential to be connected by bike/ped trails, proposed zoning for future development/preservation, etc., and interface that data with the input of the community, i.e. questions that arise, most valued locations or most desirable connections, perceptions of neighborhood diversity, and most likely complaints. I'm sure that there are great examples of this type of story map platform, but if anybody could point me in the direction of such examples I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

[SaraJL]

Hello Matthew - 

I don't have an example available - but one way to do this would be to combine Story Maps with Survey123! You can create the Survey123 to allow the public to mark up a map -  Survey123 generates a feature class layer that can be added to a Web Map. Posting this online will allow the public to viewer.

Looking at it from a different view - the survey form and collecting the responses on a map would allow for some quality control in the data. Features added by a touchscreen on a phone would definitely not be as accurate than someone contributing on a computer, but you would be able to analyze this data ahead of time and use it as a template for another dataset. A lot of it might depend on how accurate it needs to be.

Good luck with the project!