Add an explorer map tour to your story

Create a curated gallery of geographic places in ArcGIS StoryMaps in just a few steps

Above: a screenshot of an explorer tour of notable destinations in Palm Springs, California.

Explorer tour basics

The  September 30 update  to ArcGIS StoryMaps introduced a new type of block called explorer map tour. In short, explorer tour provides a browsable gallery of places located on an interactive map. Explorer tour is a sibling of the existing guided tour block; authors can now switch freely between the two options without losing any information.

The two map tour types are similar, but serve slightly different purposes: Whereas guided tour is designed to shepherd readers through a series of places in a predefined order, explorer tour encourages readers to browse tour points in whatever order they like. You can learn more about the two different types of map tour, and why you might choose one over the other, in  this blog post .

This tutorial will show you how to create and configure an explorer map tour block. Click the button below to open a new story in the ArcGIS StoryMaps builder, and follow along at your own speed. Let's dive in!

Step 1: Insert a map tour block

To get started, open a story in the ArcGIS StoryMaps builder and select the circular + button to open the block palette. Select the Map tour option (it's at the very end of the list) to launch the map tour builder.

Tip: Want to speed things up? Select + New story button on the Stories or Collections page, then choose Explorer map tour under the quick start options. This will create a new story with a single list-style explorer tour block (though you can always add more blocks).


Step 2: Choose a creation workflow

The initial page of the map tour builder lets you decide how to create and populate your map tour block. The first option inserts an empty block; you can then add individual tour points one by one.

The second option allows you to upload a bunch of images at once; each image is then used to generate a unique tour place. (You can then add or edit each place's information, if needed.)

A third choice is to have an ArcGIS Online feature service populate a map tour using point data and its associated attributes. Detailed instructions for this workflow can be found in a  separate tutorial .

For now, we'll focus on the bulk image-upload workflow, so go ahead and select the Yes, upload photos option. If you'd prefer to start with an empty tour, you can skip ahead to Step 5.

Note that the image upload workflow is currently a one-time operation when starting a new tour; for now, you can't bulk-upload multiple images to an existing tour block.


Step 3: Add tour images

On this screen, you can choose the images that will generate your tour points. Selecting the Browse your files button will open a file picker, where you can locate image files on your computer. Alternatively, you can drag and drop files from a Finder or File Explorer window directly onto the designated area.

Tip: Keep in mind that image files must be in .jpg, .png, .gif, or .svg formats.

Step 4: Adjust selection and reorder images

Once you've located and added your image files, you can quickly preview and refine your selection. Since map tour blocks can contain up to 100 tour points, only the first 100 images in your upload will be automatically selected for inclusion. (Remember, each image will generate a unique tour point.)

Some of your image previews may have a small pin icon in the upper right-hand corner; this indicates that the image file contains geographic coordinates, and that the resulting tour point will be positioned automatically on the map. Of course, you can manually reposition this later, if needed. (This is covered in Step 7.)

If you've uploaded more than 100 images, or if want to exclude some images from inclusion in your tour, click the checkbox in the image preview's upper-left corner to deselect it. You can also reorder images by dragging and dropping. If you want to reselect your images from scratch, hit the Back (left arrow) button in the header to return to the upload screen.

Once you're satisfied with your image selection, click the Create tour button in the lower-right. This will launch the tour builder. If you've selected many images, it make take a few seconds for everything to upload, but the green loading bar will keep you apprised of the progress.

Step 5: Choose a layout

Regardless of whether you used the batch upload process (steps 2-4) or you initially opted to start with a blank tour, your next choice will to be determine the tour's type and layout.

Explorer is one of two different types of map tour. The other option, guided tour, has been around for a little while as a standalone block. For now, select the Explorer tour card and click Next.

The explorer-style map tour offers two layouts to choose from: List view, and grid view. If you plan to include a lot of places in your tour, you might opt for the grid view, as it’s more compact; but if you only have a few places, then you might prefer the list view, since it also includes a snippet of each place’s description.

Unsure which one’s best? Don’t sweat it—you can always change the layout later.

Once you’ve chosen a layout, select Done to add the empty tour block to your story.


Step 6: Add a tour point

Note: The following steps were written specifically for empty tours, but the mechanisms described here also apply to editing points that were added via batch upload.

You might've noticed that your new explorer tour block comes with a single placeholder tour point, aptly named Untitled tour point. Go ahead and select this row (list view) or card (grid view) to open the tour point's attributes in the side panel.

Here, you can edit and preview this place's name and description, its location on the map, and its associated media.

All of these fields are optional—you can add as much or as little information as you’d like. At any point, you can close the attribute view and return to the list or grid overview by clicking the circular X button floating at the bottom of the side panel.

Let’s walk through the attributes one by one, beginning with the one responsible for the "map" in "map tour": The point's geographic location.


Step 7: Locate the tour point

Click on the Add location button, which overlaps the bottom of the image and the top of the text area. This will open a full-screen map where you can set this point's location.

Pan and zoom the map to your desired location, or use the search field (in the upper right) to locate a specific place. Click anywhere on the map to position the tour point marker.

Once the pin has been placed on the map, you can click and drag it to reposition the tour point. You can also specify a map zoom level for an individual point. By default, the zoom level for every point will reflect the overall tour's zoom level setting (see step 12 for more on that). To override that, select Use the current zoom level and zoom in or out to the desired scale.

Click the green Add location button in the lower-right corner to save your tour point's position and return to its attribute view.

Once you've added a location, the Add location button in the attribute view is replaced with an Edit location button. You can select this at any time to adjust the tour point's location.


Step 8: Add a title and a description

Next, let's tell our readers a little bit about this place. To name this tour point, click in the Title field and start typing. Immediately below this is the Description field, where you can add some details about this place.

Note that you can reformat the description text to help important information stand out: Just highlight a snippet and you'll see the text editing toolbar. The hyperlink option is useful for linking to external webpages, while the color option is great for calling out relevant details like phone numbers.

You can also add buttons and audio clips to the description panel of an explorer tour point. While lists don't appear in the text editing toolbar, you can incorporate those too, using the keyboard shortcuts * for a bulleted list and 1. for a numbered list.

Tip: Want more room to show off your media or a longer narrative? Click the double-headed arrow between the media panel and the map panel to extend the media panel's width up to two additional times. The widest option occupies half of the tour block. Click a third time to return the media panel to its original size.


Step 9: Add some media

Finally, let's bring this place to life with some visuals. Click the Add image or video button to open the media selection modal. Here, you can upload or link to a photo or video. After choosing your media, select Add to add it to the active tour point.

If your image or video has geographic coordinates and you haven't set the tour point's location yet, the point will be placed at the media's position. (Don't worry, you can still manually edit the location if desired.)

Images will initially use the Fill placement style, and might be cropped. You can change the image's focal point—the part that isn't cropped—by clicking the Options button (gear icon) in the media toolbar to open the Image options window. Here, you can click on the image preview to reposition the focal point.

If you don't want your image to be cropped at all, you can switch to the the Fit placement option. Be sure to choose a nice background color for the unfilled part of the media panel.

You can add up to five photos or images to each tour point. To add more media, hover on the media panel and select the + button in the toolbar at the top. You can rearrange the media by clicking the Reorder button (three horizontal bars) in the media toolbar.

If you click the ... button you can Replace or Delete the media.


Step 10: Add some more tour points

At the bottom of the screen you'll see a dark panel spanning the width of the screen. This is the slides panel, and it's basically the control center for this entire tour block. It contains all the buttons and switches you need to manage this block and the individual tour points within it.

For now, we're only interested in adding more places to our tour, so click the circular + button on the right side of the slides panel to create a new tour point. Since the slides panel (and the + button) is always visible, you can add a bunch of points at once then fill in their details later, or add one point at a time and fill it out completely before moving on to the next one. It's up to you.

Tip: The slides panel can be made bigger or smaller by clicking the Expand/Collapse button (chevron icon) on the left side of the panel. If you're not seeing the filmstrip of slides, you may need to expand the slides panel.


Step 11: Manage your tour points

Once you've added a few tour points, you might want to adjust their order. Easy enough: Just click and drag a slide thumbnail in the expanded slide panel.

To delete a tour point, click the button in the bottom-right corner of its card, and select Delete.

You can also Hide a slide from this dropdown menu. Hiding a slide will prevent it from appearing in your published story, but the slide itself won't be deleted from the builder.


Step 12: Remix the map

The map will initially be themed to match the rest of your story. However, you can further tailor it to your content by clicking the Edit button near the top of the tour block.

At the top of the list are two big buttons that determine whether your map tour will present in the normal, two-dimensional way, or take the appearance of a 3D scene. While 3D tours can be cool, the effect works much better with certain kinds of tours and places than others, so be judicious in how you employ that option;  this story offers a nuanced discussion  of when to use 3D maps.

Try changing the color of your tour points; you can choose from a few colors associated with the current theme, or input a custom color.

You can also change the Basemap; click the basemap card to choose from a dozen or so curated basemaps, or click the Browse more maps button to open the map picker. Here, you can choose almost any web map to use as a basemap. Note that all layers in the web map will appear in your map tour, but their pop-ups will be disabled.

Finally, you can establish which zoom level will serve as the default for all tour points. Automatic will select the closest-in level that allows all points to be visible throughout the tour. Or, you can select Custom and choose your desired scale from the dropdown menu.


Step 13: Add alt text

It's very important to add alternative text (or alt text, for short) to all media—including maps—in a story. You can add alt text easily in ArcGIS StoryMaps, usually through the media Options, represented by the little gear icon.

Alt text is a description of the media that will display if the media fails to load, and will also be read by assistive technologies like screen readers. For more insight into how to write effective alt text, you can read   that section of our guide   to creating accessible stories.

For guided tours, you can add alt text to each media component within the tour, but you can also give the entire tour an alt text description, via the tour Options. Here, you might want to briefly explain what the purpose of the map tour is (e.g. "A series of my favorite restaurants").


Step 14: Change the layout

If you want to try out a different layout—and/or switch from an explorer map tour to a guided map tour—there's a button for that. Make sure the slide panel is expanded, then click the big Options button in the lower-left and choose Change layout.

The first panel allows you to choose between the guided- and explorer-style map tours; you can switch between them freely without losing any information. Click Next to move to the second panel, where you can choose between the two available layouts. Hit Done when you're happy with your selection.

Finally, you can also use the Options menu to delete the entire tour, or to create an identical copy of it. Some uses for duplicating a map tour block are to break a longer tour into smaller parts, or to experiment with map styles or point zoom levels.

Tip: For both guided and explorer tours, you can also choose whether to situate the narrative panel on the left side or the right side of the screen using the two-arrow button between that panel and the map panel.


The explorer map tour block is just another arrow in your quiver of storytelling tools. Because you can quickly switch between explorer tours and guided tours, we hope that you'll feel comfortable experimenting with this new option. Have any feedback after making an explorer map tour of your own?  Share it with us ! And, while you're sharing, feel free to send us your own explorer examples on Twitter at  @ArcGIS StoryMaps .


Looking for more resources?

We have lots of articles, tutorials, videos, and more available on our website. It's a great repository for anyone looking to take their ArcGIS StoryMaps skills to the next level.


About this tutorial

This resource was created by Cooper Thomas, a member of Esri's StoryMaps team, using  ArcGIS StoryMaps .

Above: a screenshot of an explorer tour of notable destinations in Palm Springs, California.