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Learn ArcGIS Story Maps / Sharing and Collaborating on a Story Map

This section describes how to share a story with other individuals or organizations, either in a public or private fashion. OWF has made a concerted effort to fully understand how Story Maps can be shared and if sharing requires any costs or additional subscriptions, but it should be understood that this information may not be complete.

Sharing a Story Map Publicly

As we saw in the tabbed layout example, the simplest way to allow others to view your Story Map is to make it public. This will give the Story Map its own URL address. With this option, anyone in the world can view your Story Map.

Limitations to a public Story Map:

  • Anyone in the world can view the story, which may not be desirable.

  • While the story is viewable, it is not editable by anyone else.

Sharing a Story Map Privately

There may be times when you do not want your Story Map to be viewable by everyone. Perhaps the Story Map is a first draft that needs outside review or contains sensitive data that needs to remain private. OWF has investigated the ways in which this can be done. Note that with the first two options, the user or organization you are sharing the Story Map with must have an ArcGIS Online account.

  • Create a group - within an organizational account, it is possible to create a "group", where members of the group can share data. One organizational account sets up the group and then invites another organizational account to join the group. Both accounts must be organizational, not public. It is possible to restrict which persons have access to the group content from the invited group. It is OWF's understanding that establishing a group and sharing data in this way does not require paying any additional fees.

  • Add a named user to your organizational account - you can add a new user to your organizational account and the user's account is a public one. The named user can be a Viewer or a Contributor (see Create an ArcGIS Online Account). However, this option requires paying the subscription fee for a Viewer or a Contributor, which is approximately $100 or $500 per year, respectively.

  • Give access to your user name and password - the third option is to simply give the individual or organization access to your organizational account by providing them with your user name and password. There are any number of reasons why this may not be desirable. Obviously, this option does not require paying any additional fees.

Collaborating on a Story Map

Similar to sharing a Story Map privately, it may be desirable for more than one organization or individual to have access to a Story Map so that revisions can be made to it. The methods for collaboration are the same as those listed above for sharing a Story Map privately. OWF has found that use of the ArcGIS Online Assistant can be satisfactory for some data. With ArcGIS Online Assistant, you can drag and drop files from your account into another account. However, you must have access to the other account's password, which may not be possible. This option appears to work fine for sharing the maps that are within a Story Map, but not the actual Story Map itself. OWF investigated this option and found that the links within a Story Map needed to be re-established. The ArcGIS Online Assistant also does not transfer images or video that may be contained within a Story Map.