Cartographic creations – Guide users through a map

Lake District National Park in England is famous for its mountainous terrain. In this five-part tutorial series, you'll make a web map of the Lake District to attract international visitors. You'll learn how to employ cartographic skills in Map Viewer and ArcGIS StoryMaps to make a professional interactive map.

You are encouraged to complete the first three tutorials in the Cartographic creations with web maps series before this one.

In the previous tutorials, you designed a web map. In this tutorial, you'll create an interactive layout for your map using ArcGIS StoryMaps. You'll use the Sidecar block to guide viewers through your map, and add text to explain the subject, context, and symbols.

This tutorial was last tested on September 30, 2024, using ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3. If you're using a different version of ArcGIS Enterprise, you may encounter different functionality and results.

Requirements

• User, Publisher, or Administrator role in an ArcGIS organization: ArcGIS Online (see options for software access) or ArcGIS Enterprise (learn more)
• Enterprise users must complete the first three tutorials in the Cartographic creations with web maps series before this one.

Guide users through a map

Make a story

A static map is typically presented in a layout, which includes a title, legend, and other information that helps to explain the subject and message of the map. A web map also requires a layout to provide similar contextual information. Layouts for web maps are called apps, and are almost always interactive, like the maps they contain.

ArcGIS Instant Apps, ArcGIS StoryMaps, ArcGIS Dashboards, and ArcGIS Enterprise all allow you to create apps. In this tutorial, you’ll use ArcGIS StoryMaps to create a specific kind of app called a story.

1. If you completed the earlier tutorial, Cartographic creations – Make pop-ups and labels, sign in to your ArcGIS account or your ArcGIS Enterprise portal.
2. If you did not complete the earlier tutorial, open the Lake District National Park 4 web map. Click Sign In and sign in with your ArcGIS account. On the Contents toolbar, click the Save and open button and click Save as. For Title, remove the 4. Click Save.

   Note:

   If you don't have an ArcGIS account, see options for software access.

3. On the ribbon, next to your username, click the app launcher button and click ArcGIS StoryMaps.

   

4. Click New story or Create story.

   One of the advantages of stories is their ability to guide viewers through a map, pausing to call out and explain different scales or features. The options listed under Quick start are different ways to guide the viewer.

5. Click Sidecar.

   

   The sidecar feature block presents the viewer with a series of slides. In this story, you’ll configure each slide to feature a different view of the same map. As the viewer scrolls to the next slide, the map will pan and zoom to the new view. This kind of guided experience is sometimes called map choreography.

6. Click Story title and type Lake District Fells.
7. Click Start with a short introduction or subtitle (optional) and type Explore the peaks of England’s Lake District National Park.

   

Add a map

Next, you’ll add the Lake District National Park web map to the story.

1. Scroll down to the sidecar section of the story. Click the Add button and click Map.

   

2. Choose your Lake District National Park web map.

   You’ll begin your story with an overview of the national parks in England. This will provide some geographic context for an area that your audience may not be familiar with. Your first slide will act like a locator map for the rest of the story.

3. On the map, zoom out until you can see all of England.

   

4. Click Save.
5. Click Continue your story.

   

6. Type or copy and paste Lake District is the largest of ten national parks in England. It was designated as a national park in 1951 and as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017.

   The text panel takes up a lot of room on the screen. You’ll change the design so the text floats on top of the map instead.

7. Below the map, click the Options button and click Change layout.

   

8. Choose Floating and click Save.

   Next, you’ll duplicate the first slide to create a second.

9. Below the map, on the first card, click the options button and click Duplicate.

   

10. On the map, click the Edit button.

    

11. On the map, zoom to Lake District National Park. Zoom until the park’s label appears.
12. Click Save.
13. On the slide, delete the text and type Lake District is famous for its mountainous terrain, formed by glaciers. The mountains in this area are also called "fells".

    

Configure a legend

So far, your story has introduced Lake District National Park. Map readers now know where the park is. Next, you’ll create another duplicated slide and zoom in to show the mountains. You’ll include a legend to explain the mountain symbols. You’ll also return to the web map to make some changes to the legend.

1. Duplicate the second card to create a third.
2. On the map, click the Edit button. Zoom in until the triangle mountain symbols appear, but not so far that their labels appear.

   

   These symbols are not self-explanatory. At this scale, a legend is needed to explain what the triangles represent.

3. In the side panel, click the Options tab.

   

4. Turn on the Legend and Keep legend open options.

   

   A legend appears on the map. It contains a lot of information, not all of which is relevant.

   The Lake District National Park layer does not need to be explained in a legend, because the layer’s label and the previous two slides already make it clear that the large polygon represents the park. The Clip layer should not be included in the legend because it exists only to provide a visual effect. The Lakes and Rivers layers might be included in a legend, but they are not necessary. Your intention for these layers was to make them appear as part of the basemap, and basemap features are typically not explained through a legend. You’ll rely on your audience’s familiarity with maps to recognize the blue symbols as water features.

   

   While the extra information in the legend may seem harmless, it does distract from the important information, making the map harder to read and understand. You’ll remove the extra layers from the legend by editing the web map.

5. In the side panel, click the Layers tab.

   

6. At the bottom of the pane, click Edit in ArcGIS.

   ArcGIS Map Viewer appears, showing the web map and all of the tools for modifying it.

   Note:

   If you receive a request to open the map in Map Viewer, click Open in Map Viewer.

7. If necessary, on the Contents (dark) toolbar, click the Layers button to open the Layers pane.
8. In the Layers pane, click the Lake District National Park layer to select it.

   A blue bar appears next to the layer when it is selected.

   

9. If necessary, on the Settings (light) toolbar, click the Properties button to open the Properties pane.
10. In the Properties pane, turn off Show in map legend.

    

11. Turn off the same property for the National Parks (England) layer.
12. In the Layers pane, expand Group Layer. Turn off the legend property for the Clip, Lakes, and Rivers layers.
13. On the Contents toolbar, click the Legend button. Confirm that the only layer visible is LakeDistrictFells.

    Tip:

    If the Legend pane is empty, zoom in on the map until the mountain symbols appear.

    

    You’ve removed all but one layer from the legend. You’re ready to return to the story and see your changes applied.

14. On the Contents toolbar, click the Save and open button and click Save.

    

15. Close the Map Viewer browser tab and return to the ArcGIS StoryMaps tab.

    The map refreshes automatically. The new legend explains the map simply and concisely.

    

    However, the layer name, LakeDistrictFells, is formatted unprofessionally and includes redundant information that is explained earlier in the story. You’ll shorten it to make the legend simpler.

16. In the side panel, double-click LakeDistrictFells and type Fells to rename the layer.

    

    The layer name changes on the legend as well.

17. Click Save.
18. Refresh the web page to replace the old legend with the new one.

    

19. Scroll down to the third slide to see the new legend.

    In this tutorial series, map design is presented as a linear process: first you make the map, then you make the app. However, map design is not linear. When you design your own maps, you should expect to move between the map and the app often. For example, you should consider both the map and app’s design when choosing colors and fonts, you should choose visibility ranges based on the map’s choreography, and you should consider both the pop-up and the story when planning text for the map.

Describe the symbols and a feature

The fells are styled with multivariate symbols, expressing two attributes with two visual variables—color and size. Such symbols are complex and easily misunderstood, so you’ll supplement the legend with a written explanation.

You’ll also create a slide to call out a specific mountain. Seeing an example of a feature will help to explain the symbology in context, as well as provide greater interest to the story.

1. On the third slide, delete the existing text and paste the following three sentences:

   This map shows all of the Lake District fells according to the Database of British and Irish Hills.

   The size of each triangle symbol corresponds to height: the larger the symbol, the taller the peak.

   The color of each symbol corresponds to prominence, or drop: the darker the symbol, the more prominent the peak.

   Some of the text is underlined because the hyperlink is copied and pasted along with the text.

   The text block partially hides the legend. You’ll move it to the other side of the map to prevent this.

2. Above the text, click the Change panel appearance button. Under Horizontal position, click the Right aligned button.

   

   The card moves to the other side of the map. Next, you’ll create a slide to feature a specific peak.

3. Duplicate the third slide to create a fourth.
4. On the map, click the Edit button.
5. On the map, zoom in to the largest and darkest triangle, the symbol for Scafell Pike.

   

   

6. Click the Options tab. Turn off the option for Keep legend open.

   The legend will still be available to viewers through a button.

7. Turn on the options for Keep pop-up open and Docked pop-up.

   

8. On the map, click the Scafell Pike triangle to open its pop-up.

   

   This slide will demonstrate to viewers that they can access pop-ups for each mountain peak.

9. Click Save.
10. On the slide, delete the existing text. Type or copy and paste the following:

    Scafell Pike is both the highest and the most prominent mountain in England. It has a height of 978 meters, or 3,209 feet.

    Scafell Pike is part of an extinct volcano which was active more than 400 million years ago. It was also shaped by glacial erosion more than 20,000 years ago.

    

Create a final slide

Now that you’ve provided sufficient context for people to understand your subject and your map, you’ll create one more slide to encourage people to explore further.

1. Duplicate the fourth slide to create a fifth.
2. On the map, click the Edit button.
3. Close the Scafell Pike pop-up.
4. On the Options tab, turn off the Keep pop-up open option.

   

5. Zoom out on the map until most of the mountain symbols are visible but not so far that their labels disappear.

   

6. Click Save.
7. Delete the slide text and replace it with Explore some of the other mountains in Lake District National Park! Click any fell to learn more about it.

   

   Next, you’ll finalize the positions of the map in each slide.

8. Scroll through the story and review all of the slides.
9. If you are unhappy with the position of the map in any slide, click the Edit button. Pan the map to a better position and click Save.

   Note:

   ArcGIS StoryMaps autosaves your work, so there is no need to save the story.

In this tutorial, you configured a story that guides viewers through your web map of fells in Lake District National Park. You used the Sidecar block and created five slides which each show a different view of the map. You improved the map’s legend and featured a pop-up. You added text to bring the map to life. In the next tutorial, you’ll complete the story by modifying its style, adding images, and crediting its data sources.

Acknowledgements

• The LakeDistrictFells layer was adapted from The Database of British and Irish Hills v18.
• The National Parks (England) layer is from Natural England and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data. Crown copyright and database right 2024.
• The Lake District National Park and Clip layers are filtered views of the National Parks (England) layer described above.
• The Lakes layer is from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and The Rivers Trust. Contains Ordnance Survey data. Taylor, P.J. (2021). Spatial inventory of UK waterbodies. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre. (Dataset). https://doi.org/10.5285/b6b92ce3-dcd7-4f0b-8e43-e937ddf1d4eb
• The Rivers layer is from Esri UK and Ordnance Survey. Contains OS data. Crown copyright and database right 2024.
• In the basemap, the GB Light Grey, GB Hillshade, and GB Cartographic layers are from Esri UK and have the following sources: Contains OS data. Crown copyright and database right 2023. Contains data from OS Zoomstack.
• The diagram image was created by Esri for this tutorial.