Spatial Data Science MOOC

Exercise
Communicate your analysis using
ArcGIS StoryMaps
Section 6 Exercise 2
November 30, 2020
 Spatial Data Science MOOC

Communicate your analysis using ArcGIS StoryMaps

Time to complete
90 minutes

Introduction
Creating stories using ArcGIS StoryMaps can help data analysts effectively communicate the
results of their analysis to executives and decision makers. You practiced using the ArcGIS
StoryMaps builder and identified the characteristics of an effective story. In this exercise, you
will use these skills to create your own story. This story will communicate the results of an
analysis that you previously completed in the MOOC.

Exercise scenario
For this exercise, you will create a story that communicates the results from the pattern
detection or space-time pattern mining analyses.
The pattern detection analysis examined Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
participation rates in the contiguous United States for 2016. You completed a Hot Spot
Analysis and Outlier Analysis to find meaningful patterns of high and low SNAP participation.
The space-time pattern mining analysis examined SNAP participation from 2000 to 2016,
examining how SNAP participation rates changed over time. The information from these
analyses can help decision makers distribute resources more efficiently and equitably,
ensuring that healthy food is accessible to all SNAP recipients.

Step 1: Copy the exercise data

Your story will include maps and scenes that illustrate the results from the pattern detection
and space-time pattern mining analyses. These analyses were completed in ArcGIS Pro, which
means that the analysis results need to be published to ArcGIS Online and added to web
maps and web scenes. To save time, the analysis results have been published and added to
web maps and a web scene that are available for you to use. In this step, you will create your
content inventory by saving a copy of the maps and scene that you would like to include in
your story.

a Open a new private or incognito web browser window and go to the Spatial Data Science
MOOC group.

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Note: The complete URL to this group is https://www.arcgis.com/home/

group.html?id=2eb4affd53384172a5d0a25ac057d386#overview.

ArcGIS Online groups are collections of maps, scenes, and apps that relate to a specific area
of interest or topic. This group is a collection of maps and scenes that illustrate the results of
the pattern detection and space-time pattern mining analyses that you previously completed
in this MOOC.

b Find the Pattern Detection map.

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c Point to the map thumbnail and click Open In Map Viewer.

A map illustrating the counties in the contiguous United States opens in Map Viewer.

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d Sign in to ArcGIS Online using your provided course ArcGIS account (user name ending
with _sds).

e At the top of the map, click Save and choose Save As.

f In the Save Map dialog box, for Title, type Pattern Detection <your initials and today's
date>.

g Click Save Map.

h In the top-left corner of Map Viewer, find Home.

i Click Home and choose Content.

A copy of the map has been saved to your content.

j Return to the Spatial Data Science MOOC group and repeat these steps for the Space-
Time Pattern Mining 2D map and the Space-Time Pattern Mining 3D scene if you plan to
include this map and scene in your story.
Note: If you are saving a copy of the scene, perform the following steps:

1. Open the scene in Scene Viewer.

2. In the top-left corner, click the Modify Scene button to open the Designer pane.
3. At the bottom of the Designer pane, click Save Scene.
4. Update the Title with your name and today's date, and then click Save.

Step 2: Identify your audience and takeaways

Before designing your story, you must identify the audience and the important messages, or
takeaways, that you want to share. The following questions can help you identify this
information.

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a Review and answer the following questions.

• Who are you explaining this analysis to—an analyst, a decision maker, the general
public?
• What do you want the audience to do with the information that you share—make a
decision, share the story with others, critique the analysis?
• What is the problem that your analysis is trying to resolve?
• Which analysis is the focus of your story—pattern detection, space-time pattern
mining, both?
• What are the most important aspects of this analysis?

The answers to these questions will help you determine the scope and emphasis of your story.
You will use this information to outline the story, noting potential text, images, and maps.

Step 3: Create an outline

You created your content inventory, identified your target audience, and defined the key
takeaways for your story. The final step in the pre-production phase is to create your outline.
You can use various outline formats, including a simple bulleted list, a slide deck, or even a
collection of index cards that you organize on your desk. The exact format is not that
important—what matters most is that you choose a format that works for you.

a Create an outline for your story, indicating the type of information that you will include
and the order of the information, images, maps, and other media.
Note: If you do not have the images or maps yet, you can note the type of image or map and
where you would like to add it.

b Review your outline to ensure that it includes the following information:

• The problem that you are trying to resolve

• An introduction to the analysis
• An explanation of the analysis methodology
• An explanation of the analysis results
• The answer to the problem that you were trying to resolve
• A clear definition of next steps
• Additional resources that the reader can explore

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The depth and extent to which you address the information mentioned previously will vary
based on the audience and focus of your story.
If you are looking for some inspiration, you may want to review this story about Emerging Hot
Spots of Forest Loss (https://bit.ly/EHSforest). This story communicates the results of an
Emerging Hot Spot Analysis to find statistically significant trends in forest change data.

Step 4: Find images

Before you start your story, you should find and, if necessary, prepare the media that you plan
to use. Images are commonly used in stories to break up the narrative text and provide
context to your story. You can add an image to your story by uploading an image or pasting a
link to an image on the web.
There are a few considerations to think about as you find images for your story:

• If you do not own the image, do you have permission to use the image? If so, do you
need to provide a photo credit?
• If the image is stored on the web, is it shared publicly?
• Do these images represent or support the important takeaways of this story?
• How large is this image? Will the image display well in the story?

a Find images that match your outlined ideas, keeping the previous considerations in mind.

b For each image, note the following information:

• The web URL if you do not have a local copy of the image
• If the photograph requires credits and who should be credited

Images are one media type that you can add to your story. However, the steps and
considerations mentioned here apply to all media—images, videos, maps, and scenes. In the
next step, you will prepare your maps and scenes, keeping these considerations in mind.

Step 5: Prepare maps and scenes

a Go to the private or incognito web browser window that is open to your ArcGIS Online
content.

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Note: If you closed the private or incognito web browser window, complete the following
steps:

1. Open a private or incognito web browser window and go to www.arcgis.com.

2. Sign in to ArcGIS Online using your provided course ArcGIS account (user name
ending with _sds).
3. At the top of the page, click Content.

b On the Content page, next to the Pattern Detection map that you copied, click the More
Options button and choose Open In Map Viewer.
The map illustrates the counties in the contiguous United States. Each county is symbolized
by the rate of the population that participated in SNAP during 2016. To the left of the map is
the Contents pane. The Contents pane lists the layers in the map and allows you to modify
different layer properties, such as the symbols, labeling, and so on.

c In the Contents pane, review the layers that are listed.

This map includes the original layer from the pattern detection analysis, US Counties, and the
results from the Hot Spot Analysis and Outlier Analysis.

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Note: The names of the map layers match the output names from your analysis to help you
remember what each layer represents. It is recommended that you rename these layers to
make them more interpretable for your audience. To learn more about renaming layers, see
ArcGIS Online Help: Organize layers.

d In the Contents pane, point to US Counties.

The US Counties layer, along with the SNAPHotSpots and SNAPOutliers layers, were
published to ArcGIS Online as feature layers. You can interact with and modify feature layers,
filtering the features, changing the symbology (style), and so on. The options under the layer
indicate how you can interact with and modify this layer. To learn more about feature layers,
see ArcGIS Online Help: Feature layers.

e Pan, zoom, and click the map to explore this layer's functionality and performance.

f In the Contents pane, point to US Counties Tile.

There are fewer options for this layer. US Counties Tile, along with SNAPHotSpots Tile and
SNAPOutliers Tile, were published to ArcGIS Online as tile layers. Tile layers draw more
quickly, improving the performance of your map. Tile layers are tiled images of the layer,
which means that the layer can maintain complex symbology, but the symbols, labels, and so
on cannot be modified. For example, in the Space-Time Pattern Mining 2D map, the
Emerging Hot Spot Analysis layer symbology is simplified in the feature layer but maintained
in the tile layer. To learn more about the different layer types, see ArcGIS Online Help: Layers.

g In the Contents pane, turn off US Counties and turn on US Counties Tile.

h Pan, zoom, and click the map to compare functionality and performance.

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You may want to add the same map to your story multiple times, turning on and off different
layers based on the context of the story. Choosing to use the feature layers or tile layers will
depend on what you want to show in the map and how you want your readers to interact with
the layers in the map.
The following guidelines can help you decide which layers to use:

• If you want to change the symbology of a layer, use the feature layers.
• If you want to focus on a particular state or large-scale region, use the feature layers.
• If you want readers to visually review the map for overall trends, use the tile layers.
• If you want to maintain complex symbology of a layer, use the tile layers.

i Remove layers in the map that you will not use in the story.
Hint: In the Contents pane, point to the layer that you want to remove, click the More
Options button , and then choose Remove.
You may want to further modify the map to emphasize the focus of your story. There are
various ways to modify the map and its layers—change the basemap, modify the symbology
(style), configure the pop-ups, and so on. If you would like to explore these options, see
ArcGIS Online Help: Get started with maps.

j If necessary, modify the map and its layers based on the focus of your story.

k Save the map.

l Repeat these steps for the Space-Time Pattern Mining 2D map and the Space-Time
Pattern Mining 3D scene if you plan to include this map and scene in your story.
Note: For Scene Viewer, use the Layers window and Designer pane to complete these steps.

Step 6: Create a new story

With the preparatory steps complete, you are ready to create your story.

a In the private or incognito web browser window, go to https://storymaps.arcgis.com.

b If necessary, sign in with your provided course ArcGIS account (user name ending with
_sds).

c In the upper-right corner, click New Story and choose Start From Scratch.

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The story builder opens with a blank story template.

d Add a title to your story.

Adding a title will ensure that your story will autosave.

e If a byline was not automatically added, click Add A Byline (Optional) and type your
name.
Next, you will add story elements, such as text and media.

Step 7: Add story elements

You will use your outline and the previous exercise's instruction to add text, media, and
immersive blocks to your story. Adding media and immersive blocks are not required, and the
decision to add these elements depends on the audience and the important takeaways of
your story.

a Open and review your story outline.

b Using your outline as a guide, add text, media, and immersive blocks to your story.
Note: Refer to the previous exercise for step-by-step instructions.
You will also add maps and a scene to your story. You will use the saved copies of the maps
and scenes that were added to your ArcGIS Online content page.

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Step 8: Add maps and scenes

a In the story builder, find the location at which you want to add your first map or scene.

b Click the Add Content Block button and choose Map.

The page opens to My Maps. My Maps lists the maps and scenes that are located in your
ArcGIS Online content.
Note: You may see different maps and scenes depending on the number of maps and scenes
that you copied for your story.

c Click the map or scene that you want to add.

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The map opens in the map designer.

Note: Your map or scene may vary from the preceding graphic depending on the map or
scene that you chose and modifications that you made to it. The following instructions are
based on the Pattern Detection map and may need to be adjusted for your map or scene.

d Using the side panel, make any final adjustments to the map—turning on and off layers or
turning on the legend.
Note: Any edits made in the map designer will only apply to the map or scene that is added
to the story.

e In the bottom-right corner, under the map, click Place Map.

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The map is added to the story. You can zoom and pan this map directly in the story.
Depending on the type of layers in the map, you may be able to query information by clicking
a feature.

f Repeat these steps for the remaining maps and scenes that you want to add to your story.
You have created an initial draft of your story. Before publishing the story, you will review it.

Step 9: Review the story

It is important to review your story to ensure that the content is accurate and represents the
best telling of your story.

a If necessary, scroll to the top of the story.

b At the top of the story builder, click Design.

c In the Design panel, choose a cover and theme that best matches the tone of your story
and the story's visuals.
Note: Refer to the previous exercise for instructions and an explanation of cover and theme.

d Preview your story and, if necessary, make any remaining changes to it.

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Step 10: Publish and share

After reviewing your story, you are ready to share it with the other MOOC participants.

a At the top of the story builder, click Publish.

Note: If you are still in Preview mode, click Edit Story to return to the Draft view and see the
Publish option.

b In the Sharing menu, select Everyone (Public).

c Click Publish Story.

If you included maps and scenes in your story, the Share Maps And Layers window may
appear. The maps and scenes must have the same sharing settings as your story. In this
example, they must be shared with everyone. You can use the Share Maps And Layers window
to automatically update the sharing settings on these items.

d Click Yes, Share These Items.

The story, and its associated maps and scenes, is now available to the general public. You will
share a link to the story for other MOOC participants to easily access the story.

e At the top of the story, click the Copy The Story URL button .

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f Post the URL to the Lesson Forum and be sure to add the #section6 hashtag to the
subject line of the post.

g Review other MOOC participant stories to explore different ways to communicate the
results of an analysis.
Communicating the results of your analysis is one of the most important steps in spatial data
science. Esri provides various tools that you can use to communicate your results with analysts
and decision makers—ArcGIS Notebooks, ArcGIS Dashboards, ArcGIS StoryMaps,
ModelBuilder, and more. The tool that you choose will depend on the audience and
information about the analysis that you want to share. In this exercise, you used ArcGIS
StoryMaps to create a compelling and effective story that explains the reason for the analysis,
the results, and how this information can be used going forward.

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