ArcGIS StoryMaps

One easy way to create a very professional-looking website without getting bogged down in technical details is by using ArcGIS StoryMaps. ArcGIS is a a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software, and they developed StoryMaps initially to help people produce content around their maps. But, you don’t have to have geographic data to use StoryMaps!

Try it out

• Log in to ArcGIS through the Tulane ArcGIS online portal and click “sign in” in the upper right. (Single sign-on with your Tulane account.)

• Go to the ArcGIS StoryMaps start page.

• Click “New story” in the upper right.

ArcGIS has a nice page with instructions for developing your storymap, and Tulane also has a libguide on how to create one.

Your StoryMap will remain in Draft mode until you decide you want to Publish it.

Making a map

If you want to include a map in your StoryMap, you have two options:

1. An Express Map, generated from within the StoryMap interface. Express maps can’t be very data-driven, but they are easy to make. If you have just a few geographic features to show, or you don’t have a dataset, use this option.
2. A full-blown ArcGIS map. To make one of these, you will need to go back to the main ArcGIS website, Tulane ArcGIS online portal and click “map” at the top of the page. From there, you can add layers to the map by uploading data. For example, you could download the shapefile for the NORDc facilities or murals in Montreal.

Resources

• Tulane libguide on GIS software

• Tulane libguide to StoryMaps

• StoryMap map tour of image

• Making an ArcGIS choropleth map

  • Download shapefiles appropriate to your data (e.g., states, parishes)
  • Upload the shapefiles as a layer
  • Upload your data as a different layer
  • Join the data to the shapefiles
  • Use a value from the data to color the map. Here’s how– click the dots next to the layers to get into layer properties, edit layer style, then add a field and choose the attribute. Questions? Ask me

• It looks like it is possible to work on StoryMaps collaboratively (e.g., students working on a group project, a class collaborating, etc) but it would need to be turned on by an IT administrator. I don’t know who that is at Tulane! Okay, one more idea here– it looks like if you go to the main Tulane ArcGIS website and click on Groups at the top, you can make a group.