FAQ: What are some best practices for managing Story Map template limitations?

Question

What are some best practices for managing Story Map template limitations?

Answer

Esri Story Maps provide the ability to combine maps with images, text, and video. However, feature limitations exist for each story map template. The table below summarizes the different story map templates with the corresponding feature limitations.

 

Template	Feature limitations
Tour	Tour points: 99 Description of each tour point: 1000 characters
Journal	Sections: 100 (excluding the Home section)
Series	Tabs: 30
Swipe / Spyglass	Maps: 2 Points of interest: 36
Cascade, Shortlist, Crowdsource	N/A

To ensure audience engagement, it is recommended to keep the story map short and simple. Inserting too many photos, videos, and links can slow down performance.

Nevertheless, the following actions can be taken to manage feature limitations of specific templates:

• In a Story Map Tour application, to include more than 99 tour points, download Story Maps from the GitHub repository, change the MAX_ALLOWED_POINTS in the app\maptour-config.js file, and host the Story Map Tour on a local server instead of ArcGIS Online.

For any Story Map template:

• Embed a story map into another story map.
• Divide the story map into shorter or smaller story maps with smaller scopes, and link one story map to another.
• Instead of embedding multimedia content, insert links to external media.
• Use pop-ups and interactive links.

Related Information

• ArcWatch: Make a Map Tour Story Map
• Story Maps: Frequently Asked Questions
• Learning ArcGIS: Get Started with Story Maps
• What's New in Story Maps: April 2018