Skip to Main Content

ArcGIS StoryMaps

Add a Swipe Block to Your Story

Cooper Thomas from ESRI's StoryMaps team created a very nice Add a swipe block to your story tutorial. The video tutorials below demonstrate creating a swipe map with the Village of Dearborn (1891) on the left compared to the City of Dearborn (1947) on the right.

You don't have to have maps to use this feature! You can use photographs, too. For example, you can have a historic photo of a building on the left and a current photo of the same building on the right. Then, you can swipe to compare the images to see what has changed.

Find and Georeference a Map

Once you know what you want to show, you need to find a map. This video shows how to find a map on the Library of Congress's website. Other sources of scanned maps can be found on the GIS & Mapping guide. This video also demonstrates how to georefernce a map. StoryMaps doesn't know where to put the map image; georeferencing is what we do in ArcGIS Pro to tell StoryMaps how to orient the map, and maybe stretch the map in different places, so that things on the map image match the real world.

Adding a Map (or Maps) to a Swipe Block

After you have georeferenced a map (or two), you can add it (or them) to a swipe block in StoryMaps. This video demonstrates not only adding the swipe block, but also adding a caption and map citations

Cropping a Map and Saving it with a Transparent Background

You may want to crop a map and save it with a transparent background. If you want to do this, you need to do it before you georeference the map. This video demonstrates how to do this using an 1891 map of the Village of Dearborn and Paint.NET.
Subjects: Geography

Call us at 313-593-5559

Text us: 313-486-5399

Email us your question

University of Michigan - Dearborn Logo
  • 4901 Evergreen Road
    Dearborn, MI 48128, USA
  • Phone: 313-593-5000
  • Contact us