Latest Contributions by Anneka_France

Owen Evans has this been implemented yet? I don't seem to be able to remove the date but I'm sure there has been an update since this was posted. Thanks! ... View more

Is it possible to remove the white space between the last block and the footer? It makes it look like something hasn't loaded fully and can be a bit confusing. It would also be great if we could customise the footer and perhaps add credits (like the classic cascade template). ... View more

Has this issue been resolved yet? Or is there a timeline? If it won't be resolved soon then I'll need to remake my story in an old template... ... View more

Hi Owen - that's really disappointing and frustrating. This is one of the most basic functionalities of the StoryMap Journal template and is essential when you want someone to see multiple datasets for their area of interest. We can't even add StoryMap actions to allow users to turn different datasets on/off, as they still aren't supported in the new builder. StoryMaps should be dynamic and interactive - not static and difficult to use. We want people to scroll through stories with ease and not be deterred by repetitive actions like zooming in repeatedly. At this point, we may as well create a series of pdf maps or a powerpoint presentation! ... View more

The ability to link to sections of other StoryMaps in a collection would be great and a huge improvement on the classic templates! ... View more

You could try embedding StoryMaps in the ArcGIS Experience Builder Beta‌ or you could use the new collections feature in ArcGIS StoryMaps (although this is very basic and you can't name the tabs...) ... View more

Any updates on this feature enhancement? ... View more

How was your experience of creating a collection and adding stories to it? Very quick and easy Is there anything you were expecting to do, and couldn’t? Couldn't select more than one story map at a time when adding them to the collection - makes it a little more time consuming. Couldn't add unpublished stories - it would be great if you could add draft stories to a collection, even if they are hidden in public view or present mode. Can't add logos or custom branding. In present mode you can't see the collection description - it would be good to have some kind of introduction page. I would like to be able to rename the 'tabs' so that they can be text rather than numbers. The side panel menu isn't very intuitive - perhaps change the small button to something more obvious? Can't add a thumbnail image to the collection. No social media sharing buttons. Have you tried the present mode? How often do you see yourself using a Collection to present to your work to your audience? Unlikely to use it for presentations/talks unless there is offline capability - wifi connections aren't always reliable enough. Potential to use 'collections' as an alternative to the classic map series template - but needs to support other item types (especially web apps) and perhaps an option to remove cover pages from the new story maps template (just like a book, not every chapter needs a new cover page) If sharing with users I would probably just share in 'present' mode - it's not clear when you open a collection that you should start reading using the 'present' button rather than clicking on individual stories. ... View more

I'm fully on board with the concept of the new StoryMaps and think that a unified builder has been much needed. The new builder is much more intuitive and looks much more modern than the classic templates. I also love some of the new features like adding cards, buttons and express maps. We previously 'mixed and matched' the classic templates by embedding StoryMaps within StoryMaps, but this sometimes caused scaling issues and wasn't mobile friendly. We hope that the new builder will eventually allow us to add all the features we need into a single, mobile ready StoryMap. However, it concerns me that the new builder still doesn't have anywhere near the same functionality as the old builders and there is a very short transition period between the Classic Esri Story Maps and the new StoryMaps. If I understand correctly, it's less than a year until the classic builders are removed and less than 3 years until existing apps can no longer be edited. Some of our projects have a planned duration of 3 to 5 years (hopefully longer) and budgeting has only accounted for the development of one iteration of StoryMaps. We are now having to choose between delivering work that doesn't meet the original specification (because we don't have the functionality in the new builder) or creating StoryMaps that will not last the duration of the funded project. We'd really like to see a much more detailed breakdown of the road map and expected timelines for updates, or have an extended timeline for the transition period. ... View more

Thanks Owen. It's great to hear that you're looking at adding more template capabilities beyond simply copying, but will it be possible to add the generic copy ability in the meantime? ... View more

Hi Owen, We're an umbrella body with ~60 member trusts and >100 partnerships. We provide technical training and support to our member trusts and partners. As part of this, we often develop story maps and templates that we can copy to our members' accounts to help them get started and save duplication of effort. They can then build on these templates and add their own local data and narrative to enrich the story. This involves copying/transferring story maps between members of different organisations. It is usually the author that is transferring stories to a different user account, but occasionally we might see a great example on someone else's account and it would be great if we could also copy those templates too. There's also times when we might want to simply copy a story map within our own accounts, either to preserve a back up that we can revert to if our edits aren't approved, or to use an existing story map as a template for a new story. In most cases, we copy the maps across to the new account too and 're-link' the story map to the copied maps. However, we don't tend to copy data, as we always encourage the use of open data that is shared publicly in ArcGIS online and the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World We make sure the most relevant data to our trusts and partners is available in our ArcGIS Hub and only recommend that users upload their own local data to their accounts. We want to avoid duplicating data wherever possible and try to maintain authoritative versions of each dataset. The ability to copy story maps has been critical to our workflow. Until this is possible with the new story maps, it will significantly limit our ability to use the new story maps in upcoming training sessions. This is in addition to the missing functionality in the new story maps, such as story map actions and bookmarks/tabs. This is an issue as I believe Classic Esri Story Maps‌ will stop being available by mid-2020? It seems counter productive to invest in training staff how to use the old story maps if these skills will be out of date within 12-months, especially as most trainees are not GIS professionals. Can you provide us with a time frame for when/if these features will become available? Or suggest another workflow for us to use in the meantime?  Feel free to ask more questions! Thanks, Anneka ... View more