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Use express maps to help tell your story
Learn how to easily add effective and attractive cartography to any story
All stories happen somewhere. Place relates to an audience where things happened, which in turn can explain why or how things happened the way that they did. To help storytellers add such crucial context to their stories, express maps were one of the first features incorporated when ArcGIS StoryMaps was rolled out in July of 2019 . Storytellers of all cartographic experience levels can populate an express map with features, pop-ups, text labels, and more, injecting slick, effective, interactive cartography into any story.
On top of that, express maps also serve as a "Trojan horse" of sorts that allows storytellers to create interactive image experiences as well as maps. Thanks to a capability added in August, 2024, you can now upload an image to serve as the base of an express map. This means that you can apply the same drawing, pop-up, and annotation tools to that image as you can to a map.
For a detailed walkthrough of exactly how to set up an express map in ArcGIS StoryMaps and get the most out of its many features, peruse the steps below, split into two main sections: the process of building and populating an express map, and then the different ways to configure your express map to maximize its storytelling potential. A third section covers the image base functionality of express maps, while two additional sections discuss best practices and some tips and tricks to get the most out of your express cartography.
And, of course, feel free to experiment and create an express map of your own in the story builder as you follow along!
Build an express map and add features to it
Step 1: Start an express map
To kick things off, click the + button in the story builder to open the block palette and select Map. Doing so will take you to the map picker, populated by the content associated with your ArcGIS StoryMaps account. A button to create an express map is in the upper right-hand corner of the page (or, if you have no web maps in your library, that space will instead be filled with a prompt to "Create your first map," along with a button to enter the express map designer.) Click to open the map designer onto a fresh map, then pan and zoom to your map's intended area of focus, or use the search tool in the upper right hand corner to quickly jump to a particular place.
Tip: You can also add express maps to the media panel of a slideshow or sidecar slide, as well as to the text panels of both docked and floating sidecar layouts.
Step 2: Add some points
After bringing an express map into existence, it's time to populate it with cartographic features: points, lines, and areas. To be clear, there isn't a right or wrong order in which to add features, but a typical place to start is with points, the most commonly used express map feature type.
At the top of the map designer are all of the drawing tools, consolidated into groups, shown above with the point tool selected from the point group dropdown list.
Once selected, click anywhere on the map to place a point (hold down shift as you click to add multiple points quickly). Or, if you're looking for a specific location, you can use the search tool to the right of the tool bar and opt to add the result you want directly to your map as a point. (To help you find what you're looking for more quickly, you can activate the icon to the right of the search field to limit search results only to places within the current map extent.)
At any time, you can delete any feature by dragging it to the bottom of the map designer window, where a trash can icon will appear any time something is being dragged. Use the group select tool (beneath the primary select tool in the select drop-down menu) to execute a mass purge, or simply to move multiple features around the map at once.
Tip: Express maps do not autosave like the overall ArcGIS StoryMaps builder does, so it's a good idea to periodically "save" your work by clicking Done in the lower right-hand corner of the map designer. Click the pencil icon at the left end of the toolbar that appears at the top of the map block in the story builder to reenter the map designer.
Step 3: Fill out pop-up attributes
You'll notice that upon adding any drawn feature (or clicking on an already existing one), the side panel at the left of the map designer fills with attribute fields, enabling you to assign an image, name, and/or description to that feature. Any input provided to any of those fields will be used to hydrate a pop-up that appears when that feature is hovered over or clicked on in the live map.
Images in express map pop-ups have many of the same configuration options as images elsewhere in stories: the ability to choose whether to fit the whole image into the alloted space or to have it fill the space; fields for attribution and alt text; and access to the image editor for cropping and simple markup tools.
Keep in mind that not everything needs to have attributes! Leaving all of the fields blank disables the pop-up for a feature, which can be a good thing in helping to keep maps simple and uncluttered for the reader; use discerning judgment when determining which features really need a name or other information to pop up in the map.
Tip: Highlight text in a feature's description field to see a few formatting options: bold and italic text, plus the ability to create a hyperlink.
Step 4: Customize a point's symbolization
Most of the time, the side panel is occupied by the Drawn features panel, which houses a list of every drawn feature in your express map. You can click on any individual feature within the drawn features panel to bring up its attributes; you can also click on the symbol representation to the left of the feature's name to access its style panel.
For any individual feature, the style panel is where you can change the color of that feature (out of the box, all features take on the story's primary accent color). For non-numbered points, however, you have even more customization power: you can change the relative size of the symbolization in the map, with three sizing options to choose from, and you can even opt to bring in a custom symbol graphic. Under the symbol heading in the style panel, just click on the little photo icon to summon a file explorer from which you can upload your own image.
Step 5: Add some numbered points
Express mapping includes the option for another kind of point feature, too: ones that are automatically numbered as they are added to the map, in order to indicate, say, a progression or hierarchy. Numbered points are added much in the same way as regular points (including shift+click to add multiple points rapidly), except they can't be added through a search.
Tip: Easily rearrange the order of numbered points by dragging them up or down within the drawn features panel.
Step 6: Draw some lines
Express maps offer two tools for adding line features to the map: clicking and placing vertices one at a time, or drawing them freehand.
When using the click-and-place tool, click once to begin your line, and then click once again in the desired location to establish a vertex from which the line's direction can be changed. Double-click to finish drawing the line.
For freehand lines, with that tool selected, click and drag to draw the line and then just let go to finish the line (no additional clicking required).
Step 7: Clean up your lines
You can manipulate lines after they've been created by dragging their vertices and the midpoints between vertices (dragging a midpoint turns it into a new vertex, thus creating two new midpoints, and so on). This capability is especially handy for tidying up freehand lines, which are very much an imperfect science.
To curve a line, hold down the control key as you drag a midpoint.
You can also delete vertices by selecting them and pressing the backspace/delete key (be especially careful not to try to delete a midpoint instead; this deletes the entire line).
For a more professional-looking map, "snap" any vertex to a vertex on a different feature to make features look clean and connected (this trick applies to any feature type).
Tip: Drag the wrong vertex by mistake? Accidentally delete an entire line? The undo/redo buttons in the drawing toolbar to the right of the selector tool group are there to come to the rescue!
Step 8: Create some areas (click-and-place and freehand)
Next, play with the area drawing tools, which create semi-transparent shaded areas.
As with lines, you can draw areas either using the click-and-place method or by freehand. There are also options for creating circular and rectangular areas.
For those first two types, the mechanics are identical to their line counterparts: single-clicking to place vertices and double-clicking to finish the shape, versus dragging the cursor and then letting go to complete a freehand area.
Once again, you can move vertices and midpoints around to clean up the outlines of these two types of areas and make them more accurate.
Tip: For a more professional-looking map, "snap" any vertex to a vertex on a different feature to make features look crisp and connected (this trick applies to any feature type).
Step 9: Make some circular and rectangular areas
Now experiment with the other two kinds of areas you can draw in express maps: circular and rectangular shapes.
Click and drag to take control over the dimensional ratio and size of the circle or rectangle from the start. Or, click once to place a perfect circle or perfect square onto the map and adjust it from there.
Circular and rectangular shapes have eight draggable points around their edges. Drag a corner point to resize the shape while maintaining its ratio. The other four points, along the edges of the shape, can be used to change its width or height independently of the other.
Step 10: Create and populate feature groups
By this point, the drawn features panel may be getting a bit crowded. Fortunately, you can create feature groups in which to organize the features in your express map. You can choose to organize features by type, by theme, by geography, or any other way that makes sense within the context of your map.
To add an empty feature group, click on the icon that resembles a file folder that's always present in the bottom right-hand corner of the drawn features panel. Give the group a name, ideally one that succinctly describes the kinds of features that will be inhabiting it.
Now, populate the group by dragging individual features from the drawn features list into the group one at a time. You can add and remove features from a group, move them between groups, or change their order within a group as much as you need. You can also rearrange the order of the groups themselves by clicking on the group name and dragging it up and down the drawn features panel. Note that all non-grouped features will remain at the very top of the drawn features list.
If your map's legend is turned on (this will be covered in step 18), it will list all of the features in your map exactly as they are displayed in the drawn features panel.
Step 11: Change the color and name of feature groups
One advantage to grouping features is the ability to change the color of every feature in that group with one click.
To do so, click on the three dots to the right of the group's name and select Change group style. Set the size (for any non-numbered points) and color to uniformly apply those choices to the whole group—note that setting a color at the group level will not affect any non-numbered point that is using a custom symbol.
You can also rename a group via that three-dots menu, as well as by simply clicking the name of the group in the drawn features panel. Additionally, the three-dots menu has the option to delete an entire group, which also deletes any feature that is inside that group.
Tip: Clear up space in the drawn features panel by visually collapsing a group. Just click on the caret to the left of the group name.
Step 12: Provide text annotations
There are two ways to annotate an express map—that is, to provide additional information about the map without directly tying it to a drawn feature, so that it is always visible (in other words, not a pop-up). The first way is to create a text box in which you can provide a label or note about something in the map.
To add a text annotation, select the T icon from the toolbar, then click roughly where you want the annotation to appear. After typing your note or label, you can drag the annotation box to perfect its location and use the handles on the left and right sides of the box to adjust the box's width (text will wrap automatically if need be). Click and drag from the handles on the top or bottom of the text box to add a leader line that can point to the subject of the annotation.
When editing the annotation text, you'll see a style panel come up in the upper left-hand corner of the map designer window. Here you can select from a combination of light, dark or transparent boxes, along with light or dark text. You can also change the leader line's appearance to two different forms of dashed line.
Tip: Text annotations will maintain their display size as you zoom in or out. This means that features may become blocked by a text annotation box as the reader zooms and pans, so it's advisable to keep annotations as brief and sparing as possible.
Step 13: Annotate with arrows, too
The other type of annotation is to incorporate lines with built-in arrowheads to indicate geographic attributes like direction and flow.
Express mappers can select either a one-way or double-headed arrow from the toolbar. Click once to begin (for unidirectional arrows, this first click will establish the "tail" end) and then once again to complete the arrow. All arrows come with exactly one midpoint that can be dragged to effect a curve in the arrow line.
As with text annotations, a style panel will appear in the upper left, within which you can change the arrow's color or opt for a dashed line style.
Tip: Arrow annotations are not considered drawn features and thus will not appear in the drawn features panel and do not have associated attributes or a pop-up. For this reason, sometimes it will make sense to complement arrows with a text annotation that explains what the arrows signify.
Customize your map
Now that you've seen what kinds of features you can incorporate in express maps, take a look at the various settings that affect the cartographic experience for your story's readers.
Step 14: Pick a different basemap
First, access the settings panel by clicking on the gear icon at the top of the side panel (and return to the drawn features panel by clicking on the icon next to it, depicting three stacked diamond shapes). The settings panel is home to a number of choices that will impact the user experience of your express map (one of which makes the express map not a map, so we'll cover that in the following section). We'll start with Select basemap, as it is the most important of the six to get right and the one that requires the most thought.
An express map's initial basemap is, like accent color, tied to the story's theme. The current basemap is represented in thumbnail form at the bottom of the settings panel—click on it to reveal two other theme-based suggestions, plus a catalog of additional options.
To go one step further, click on Browse more maps to pick from your own web maps, any that you've favorited or are shared within your organization, or from the Living Atlas .
Tip: Choosing an appropriate basemap for a given express map could prop up a whole tutorial on its own. Give due consideration to avoiding conflicting color schemes or otherwise busier basemaps that may detract from the features in your express map.
Step 15: Decide whether to allow map navigation
Most of the remaining options are map configuration settings, each consisting of a simple on/off toggle that affects the express map's functionality in some way.
At the top of the list, the first one of these settings is Allow map navigation, the only one of the five that is already toggled on when you create a new map.
Map navigation refers to the reader's ability to zoom in and out and pan anywhere they want to—a home button above the zoom buttons returns the map view to its original extent. Disabling map navigation "freezes" the map on the initial extent set by the story's author.
Tip: Disabling map navigation can be handy for using express maps as simple locator maps that are meant to provide very basic geographic context for a story, e.g., showing where Tibet is within Asia in a story about Tibet. In such instances, the reader doesn't need to obtain any further information from that map, and the ability to pan and zoom would potentially just be a distraction from the flow of the story.
Step 16: Decide whether to turn on the search widget
Activating Search will introduce a search widget in the upper left-hand corner of the express map window. Be careful when deciding to allow search, as the results are not limited by content or geography in any way and users could end up with results that are very far away from the intended area of focus for the map and aren't relevant to the story.
Allow map navigation must be toggled on in order to enable search.
Step 17: Decide whether to activate the current location button
Turning Current location on will add a crosshair icon above the zoom and home buttons that when clicked will jump the map view to the current location of the reader (assuming they have location permissions enabled on whatever device they're using). As with search, there is great risk in activating this option for maps that are meant to be focused on a particular area, especially one where it's not likely many readers will be located.
Allow map navigation must be toggled on in order to enable current location.
Step 18: Decide whether to toggle on the legend
Activating the Legend will place a bulleted list icon in the lower left-hand corner of the express map window that, when hovered over, will expand into a list of all of the feature groups and every individual feature within them (even those without names), along with any ungrouped features.
Given that every drawn feature is included in the legend, it's good to be judicious about whether to enable it or not. Many express maps won't require one, particularly self-explanatory ones with only one or two types of features or maps that are trying to convey just a single piece of information.
When the legend is toggled on, you'll see that the option to Keep legend open becomes activated. This will make it so the legend is always showing in the map unless the reader manually minimizes it. Note that this capability will not apply to maps that are set to a small block size (see step 20).
Tip: For simpler maps, consider writing up a caption to describe the map in lieu of turning the legend on—captions can be added in the story builder beneath the express map block.
Step 19: Decide whether to visually group nearby points
The option to Group nearby points (beta) represents the ability to visually consolidate groups of points into a single representation at scales where the symbols for those points would be so close together that they would overlap with each other and be difficult to differentiate.
When active, this option will represent groups of points as a circle containing the number of points being grouped, surrounded by a translucent halo (to differentiate it from a numbered point). Hovering over that circle will reveal the points within as very tiny dots; clicking on the circle will instantly zoom in to a scale where all of the points are easily legible.
Allow map navigation must be toggled on in order to enable point grouping.
Step 20: Decide whether to include an overview map
This option will place a small globe in the lower right-hand corner of the express map with an extent box highlighting the express map's area of view. This is a great way to provide wider geographic context, especially for more zoomed-in express maps.
Step 21: Choose how the map will appear across different screen sizes
At the bottom of the options list is a separate subsection labeled Map view. Unlike most of the other options covered, this is not an on/off option but rather an either/or option. It determines how the express map will look when viewed on different-sized screens, browser windows, and the map block itself (more on block sizes in the next step).
Preserve extent (automatically selected by default) ensures that the viewer will initially maintain the author-specified geographic area, no matter the size of the container in which it's being viewed. This may mean that the scale (zoom level) has to change in order to accommodate the entire specified extent, which can lead to some undesired effects on drawn features and labels.
If Preserve scale is selected instead, the view of the map will always be at the same initial zoom level. This means that if the space allotted to the map becomes smaller, the author-specified map extent will get cropped to some extent. The trade-off is that features and labels will not be visually impacted due to changes in scale.
Remember that you can always Save the map, then test out different block sizes and Preview the map on mobile and tablet screens to help determine which option is preferable for your express map.
Step 22: Change the block size
Your final considerations lie outside of the map designer. Click Save in the lower right-hand corner to save your map into the story builder, where your express map occupies a block within the story. Hover over that block and the block settings bar will materialize at the top.
The first icon in that bar, the little pencil, gets you back into the map designer. The following four icons determine the size of the express map block within the story. The standard block size after creating a new map is Medium; Large will stretch the map across the entire width of the browser window, Small will do precisely what you would guess, and you can even Float the block alongside text, just like other forms of inline media.
You can also move the entire map within the story by grabbing the little grid-handle that appears at the upper left-hand corner of the block when it's being hovered over and dragging the block to the desired spot in the story.
Tip: Before publishing, always be sure to preview your story in each of the three modes: desktop, tablet, and mobile! Doing so will allow you to confirm that your express maps will work properly and display appropriately for all readers in the block size that you've chosen.
Step 23: Add alternative text and a caption
Of the remaining two buttons in the block settings bar, one of them is fairly self-explanatory: the trash can icon will delete the entire block (after one final warning prompt).
To the left of the trash can is a gear that opens the map properties modal, where you can enter alternative text. This should be a brief description of your map that will be used by screen readers to enhance the accessibility of your story to vision-impaired readers—we highly recommend filling out alternative text for your express maps, and for all forms of media within your story!
Finally, you can enter a caption directly below the express map block (though not every map needs a caption, particularly if its purpose is explained in the surrounding text).
Image base layer in express maps
You may have noticed, in the map options, that you also have a two-pronged choice when it comes to the Base layer that the map is using. The default is Basemap, and that selection is what this tutorial has been operating under until now. But you could also opt for Image (Beta), which will prompt you to upload an image file when selected. Doing so plasters the image onto the world map at a locked size and hides the rest of the basemap.
Once you've created an image base layer, you're free to do all of the things covered in the first section of this tutorial: Populate the image with features, fill out their pop-ups, and add text labels or arrows. Note that, when it comes to the settings for an express map with an image base layer selected, you'll only be able to toggle map navigation, grouping nearby points, and the map legend.
To see an example of the workflow for creating an express map with an image base layer, watch the short video below. To learn more about how map-based images can be used creatively and effectively for storytelling in ArcGIS StoryMaps, check out this blog post .
Express maps: Use an image as the map base
A quick note on express map best practices
A little-known fact about express maps is that they have a limit of fifty individual drawn features in any one map. Part of the reason you don't hear about this much is that not many authors come close to reaching that mark. Nor, frankly, is it a good idea to do so.
Express maps, at their core, are intended to be clean, simple complements to storytelling, relating pertinent geographic or graphic context in an immediately digestible way. They aren't meant to do heavy cartographic lifting or entrap readers into getting bogged down with voluminous information from dozens of pop-ups, et cetera. While it worked well in terms of one-stop shopping to show off all of the features, even the map I created for the demonstration graphics in this lesson has just a little bit too much going on to actually work as an effective express map within a strong story.
For a much more in-depth discussion of the whys and wherefores of express mapping and its best practices, this excellent, evergreen blog post by my colleague Mark Harrower is required reading.
Express maps in sidecar slides
Using an express map in the media panel of a sidecar slide opens up a few additional cartographic storytelling methods, which I will briefly run through here.
Map choreography
By duplicating a slide with an express map occupying the media panel and changing the duplicated slide(s) as desired, storytellers can enact what we call map choreography. Readers will see the map transform in front of their eyes as they scroll through the sidecar. This is a great way to show changes over time by adding or deleting drawn features, or to highlight different areas of focus from slide to slide.
The recommended approach here is to start with the most built-up version of your express map, so that all that needs to be done cartographically in each duplicated slide is deleting the drawn features you don't want to show. Here is a blog post that goes into more detail about map choreography and its uses.
Media actions
Another trick that can be used with an express map in a sidecar slide is to implement media actions. Media actions are toggle-able items, either in the form of a text link or a button, that add some optional interactivity to an express map by changing its zoom level and extent when activated, or swapping the map out for another piece of content entirely. They are a handy way to draw readers' attention to specific areas or features in a map within a single slide. Media actions also work great for express maps that have an image base layer.
Read this blog post to learn more about media actions and how to effectively use them, and watch the video below to see how they can be implemented with an express map.
Configure Map Actions for an Express Map
Whew! That sure was a lot to take in, I know — but getting through the tutorial was the hard part. Now you have at your fingertips the ability to quickly and easily add useful, professional-looking cartography to your stories. It goes without saying that we can't wait to see all the ways you'll use express maps to strengthen your stories.
Anyway, that's all from me. Go get mapping and storytelling—and never hesitate to tell us about it! The ArcGIS StoryMaps community on GeoNet and the @ArcGIS StoryMaps Twitter page are two great ways to provide feedback, ask questions, and share your awesome stories with us.
Looking for more resources?
We have lots of articles, tutorials, videos, and more available on the ArcGIS StoryMaps website. It's a great repository for anyone looking to take their ArcGIS StoryMaps skills to the next level.