Add and configure map tours
The map tour block combines a map with media and descriptive text to present a set of related places to readers. Map tour blocks fill the display and create an immersive experience in stories.
You can create the following types of map tour:
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Guided tour | A numbered set of places. Guided tours are recommended for a small number of places you want readers to view sequentially. Readers use scrolling to navigate through a guided tour. |
| Explorer tour | An unnumbered set of places. Explorer tours present a set of places as a list or grid that allows readers to jump to different places in any order they like. Readers can scroll or click to navigate through an explorer tour. |
| Categorized tour | A data-driven variation of an explorer tour that groups places into categories represented with map symbols. Readers can scroll or click to navigate through a categorized tour. |
There are many ways to be creative and customize a map tour to represent your unique set of places to readers. For more information, see Additional resources.
Create a map tour
Use the following steps to add a map tour to a story:
In the story builder, click the Add content block button
.In the Immersive section, click Map tour.
Choose how you want to build the map tour:
Start from scratch—Add and edit information about the tour places using the story builder.
Upload photos—Start building a tour by uploading a set of photos.
Start from a feature layer—Create a data-driven tour using information and media stored in a feature layer in your ArcGIS content or organization. See the Data-driven map tour options section below.
In the Select a map tour layout panel, click a layout that matches how you want to present the tour places to your audience, and then click Save.
Note:
When creating a tour from a feature layer, the layout will be automatically set to the explorer grid. However, if the feature layer has a field named category or type, the layout will be automatically set to categorized grid.
A map tour is created and placed in the story.
Build a map tour
Building a tour from scratch refers to the process of adding and editing information about tour places using the story builder.
You can start creating a map tour by uploading a set of photos. Photos that have location information (geotags) will be automatically placed on the map and have their locations set.
Note:
JPG/JPEG, PNG, GIF, SVG, and BMP image formats are supported when uploading a set of photos. HEIC, HEIF, TIF/TIFF, and WEBP image formats are not supported.
In the map tour configuration panel, click the New slide button to add a new place to the tour. Once a new place is added, you can add information and media for each place, as described below.
Note:
When building a tour from scratch, you can add up to 100 places.
Add tour place details
Once you create a map tour, you will build the tour by adding information for each of the tour places. All information is optional.
| Element | Details |
|---|---|
| Title | Add a name or title for the place. The name is formatted as a heading in the story, so limited formatting options are available. |
| Description | Provide a description for the tour place. The description can be multiple paragraphs and can contain lists, links, and other formatted text. For more information, see Format and convert text. |
| Media | Add up to five images or videos for each place. You can use a mix of uploaded and linked media. Configure uploaded media using the available image options or video options for media panels. For more information and best practices for uploading media, see Media file reference. |
| Location | Set or edit the location for each place. You can click on the map to set the location or use the map search to find locations. While editing the location, you can also override the zoom level for the tour place. |
Work with tour places
Each tour place is represented by a slide in the panel along the bottom of the screen. You can perform the following actions by clicking the Slide options button.
| Information | Description |
|---|---|
| Duplicate | Create a copy of a tour place. |
| Hide/show slide | Hide or show a tour place. |
| Move left/right | Move a place forward or backward in the tour. You can drag places to reorder them. You can also use keyboard shortcuts to move slides. |
| Delete | Remove a place from the tour and delete its information. |
Data-driven map tour options
When you create a data-driven tour, some information is automatically preconfigured using the feature layer's fields. For example, you may find the place titles, descriptions, and media are already displayed. You can modify these configurations.
The following sections describe the options for refining how a data-driven tour displays information from the feature layer.
On the tour configuration bar, click the Edit data source button to configure the options described in the sections below.
Data
The following options are available on the Data tab:
| Data property | Details |
|---|---|
| Feature layer | The feature layer being used by the tour is shown along with a link to its ArcGIS item details page. |
| Category field | Select the field that contains each place's category. This option is only shown if a categorized layout is active. See Change map tour layout. |
| Place name | Select the field that contains each place's name. |
| Place description | Select the field that contains each place's description. |
| Button link | To add a button link to each place, enable Show button link. Then choose the field that contains each place’s URL and type a label for the buttons |
Categories
In the categorized tour data source options, you can choose which categories appear on the map and customize their symbols and colors. You can also change the order of the categories, which updates the drawing order on the map.
The number of places is shown next to each selected category. If you need to show more places, you can adjust the maximum number of places shown on the Display tab.
Click the Add or Remove button next to the category to show or hide it.
Note:
You can show up to eight categories.
Click the More options button 
next to a category to access the following category configuration options:
| Category option | Details |
|---|---|
| Rename category | Edit the name of the category. You can also click the category name to edit it. |
| Change symbol | Choose from dozens of icons. |
| Change color | Choose a background color for the category symbol. If you choose a dark color, the symbol color will be white. If you choose a light color, the symbol color will be black. |
| Move up or Move down | Move a category up or down the list. The order of the categories also sets the drawing order of symbols on the map. |
Media
The following options are available on the Media tab:
| Media property | Details |
|---|---|
| Image placement | Choose whether the media for the tour will use fit or fill placement. Fit will ensure images are not cropped. If you choose fit, you can also set the background color used for the media panel. This option affects placement of media for all places in the tour. |
| Maximum media per place | If some or all places in the feature layer have multiple attachments, you can choose to limit how many are shown. Up to five attachments can be shown for each place. |
| Attribution | Choose a field that contains attribution information for each place's media. The attribution will only show for the first image for each place. |
| Alternative text | Choose a field that contains alternative text for each place's media. The alternative text will only show for the first image for each place. |
| Image source | Choose how media is stored in the feature service. Choose Attachments if media is stored as feature layer attachments. Click Reverse image order to swap the display order for the media. Choose Image URL field if the feature layer has a field with URLs that point to media stored on the web. You can choose separate fields for the large image and thumbnail image. |
Display
The following options are available on the Display tab:
| Display property | Details |
|---|---|
| Maximum places | Select the maximum number of places to show. Newly created tours show up to 100 places, but you can adjust this in various increments to show up to 200 places. Enable Only show places that have media to hide places that do not have media. |
| Sort by | Choose a field to sort the tour places. You can reverse the sorting direction using the toggle button next to the drop-down menu. |
Tip:
If you have more than 200 places to show, try splitting the tour into several tour blocks.
Map tour layouts
You choose a layout for a map tour during the tour creation process. Once the tour is created, you can change the layout at any time. Each type of map tour has two layouts.
| Layout | Description |
|---|---|
| Guided tour: Map focused | A large map and smaller media panel. |
| Guided tour: Media focused | A large media panel and smaller map panel. |
| Explorer tour: List | Thumbnails are stacked and shown with the place names and partial descriptions. Clicking a place opens a more detailed view. List view is recommended when you have fewer places. |
| Explorer tour: Grid | Thumbnails are arranged in a grid with place names. Clicking a place opens a more detailed view. Grid view is recommended when you have many places. |
| Categorized tour: List | Places are grouped in categories. Once a reader selects a category, the view of places is similar to the explorer list layout. |
| Categorized tour: Grid | Places are grouped in categories. Once a reader selects a category, the view of places is similar to the explorer grid layout. |
Note:
Categorized tour layouts are only available for tours created from a feature layer.
Choosing the right layout for the tour depends on the number of places in the tour. The table below shows the recommended layouts to use according to the number of places in the tour.
| Number of places | Recommended layouts |
|---|---|
| 10 or fewer | Guided tour: Map focused Guided tour: Media focused |
| 10–20 | Explorer: List Categorized: List |
| 20 or more | Explorer: Grid Categorized: Grid |
Change the layout
Use the following steps to change the layout of a map tour:
Scroll the story so the map tour is visible.
Launch the layout picker.
For a tour created from scratch—In the map tour configuration panel, click Options and click Change layout.
For a tour created from a feature layer—On the map tour configuration bar, click Layout.
Choose a layout, and click Save.
The selected layout is applied to the map tour.
Note:
Categorized tour layouts are only available for tours created from a feature layer.
Map options
To access the map options, click Edit on the tour map toolbar. The following options are available for configuring the tour map:
| Map option | Details |
|---|---|
| Map type | Show the tour map in 2D or 3D. |
| Basemap | Choose a basemap from the gallery that provides context for the map tour places. Alternatively, you can select a web map from your ArcGIS content or organization. For more information, see Basemap. |
| Current location | Enable this option to show a button that will allow readers to show their current location on the map. This is only available for readers viewing the story on a small screen, such as their mobile phone. |
| Show progress lines | Show lines that connect each tour place. This is only available for guided tours. |
| Show legend | When using your own web map as the basemap, enable the legend widget to provide information about additional map layers. |
| Map pin style | Choose a color for the tour place pins. |
| Use feature layer style | Enable this option to override the map tour symbols with the layer style saved in the feature layer item. This option is only available for explorer tours. |
| Location zoom level | Configure the zoom level readers see when they visit tour places. You can override this for individual places when editing the location. See Add tour place details. |
Basemap
To show additional layers in a map tour, you can use the Basemap option to select a web map. When you use a web map, any layers in that web map will also be shown. Pop-ups will be disabled
Map tour options
To access the map tour options, click Options in the map tour configuration panel. The following options are available for configuring the tour map:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Hide/Show thumbnails | Hide thumbnails for all map tour places. This option is available for explorer list and categorized list layouts. |
| Change numbering | Number order—Choose whether places in a guided tour are numbered in ascending or descending order. Starting number—Set the starting number for the tour places. These options are available for guided tour layouts. |
Tip:
If you don't have media for most or all of the tour places, use one of the List layouts and enable Hide thumbnails in the map tour options.
Create a countdown-style guided tour by reversing the number order, or split a tour across multiple tour blocks by setting the starting number.
Duplicate map tour
Use the following steps to duplicate a map tour with all of its slides:
In the map tour configuration panel, click the Options button.
Click Duplicate tour.
The map tour is duplicated below the original map tour.
Delete map tour
Use the following steps to delete a map tour and all of its slides:
In the map tour configuration panel, click the Options button.
Click Delete tour.
The map tour is removed from the story.
Map tour basemaps on ArcGIS Enterprise
In the ArcGIS Enterprise environment, map tours use basemaps from ArcGIS Living Atlas when a portal is connected to the internet. Alternatively, you can use a web map in the Web Mercator projection as a basemap. For more information, see Map options.
The map tour block is available in the story builder even if access to ArcGIS Living Atlas content is not available in your ArcGIS Enterprise portal. In this case, the map tour basemap comes from the selected group in the basemap gallery if the default basemap is in the Web Mercator projection.
Important:
If the default basemap is not in the Web Mercator projection, you must select a web map as a basemap from My Maps, My Favorites, My Groups, or My Organization for the map tour. For more information, see Configure ArcGIS Living Atlas content.
Related topics
Additional resources
ArcGIS Blog: Exploring six options for presenting tours in ArcGIS StoryMaps
ArcGIS Blog: Introducing the guided tour block in ArcGIS StoryMaps
ArcGIS Blog: Expand your storytelling horizons with explorer tour
ArcGIS Blog: Use—or create—a feature service to build a map tour in ArcGIS StoryMaps
ArcGIS Blog: Boost your map tour experience with countdowns, 3D globes, and more
Esri Community Blog: Migrate a classic Shortlist to ArcGIS StoryMaps as a categorized map tour
Esri Community Blog: Format place descriptions for data driven map tours using HTML
Esri Community Blog: Using ArcGIS Arcade to your story's advantage