Creating a StoryMap for “A Decade of BlueBikes in the Boston Region”

February 23, 2022|

Two bike riders on bike path with city in the background.Betsy Harvey| 02/23/2022| 7 minute read

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If so, Esri’s StoryMaps has got you covered. StoryMaps leverages the power of pictures—and maps, videos, and audio—to help users tell complex, place-based stories in an easy-to-use, interactive digital format. If you’re wondering how to create a StoryMap and whether it might be right for your project, read on.

A StoryMaps Case Study: A Decade of Bluebikes in the Boston Region

I recently completed a StoryMap called A Decade of Bluebikes in the Boston Region: How Access to Bikeshare has Changed for Environmental Justice Communities. It shows the results of an analysis that looked at whether communities of color and low-income communities (collectively referred to as environmental justice, or EJ, communities) have the same level of access to Bluebikes stations as non-EJ communities, and whether access has changed since the creation of the bikeshare system in 2011.

Why StoryMaps?

A StoryMap is particularly ideal for smaller projects—or a portion of a larger one—that doesn’t require a lot of text, and that can take advantage of StoryMaps’ interactive format. It’s also ideal for projects you want to publish quickly, or that are time-sensitive. I chose StoryMaps for my Bluebikes research for several reasons:

  • Showing the change in access to Bluebikes stations over time in a series of three seamless-scroll sidecar maps, so that readers can easily see which stations have been added in EJ communities.
  • I can easily update the maps when new Census data become available, which I plan on doing this year, and when new Bluebikes stations are added.
  • All of the data for the maps are hosted on ArcGIS online, and can be reused in any future StoryMap. This is very helpful for me, because most of my maps include EJ communities!
  • It’s easier to share maps, StoryMaps, and underlying data, as it’s all in one place—just a simple copy-and-paste of the link (as long as you’ve made it publicly available).
  • Readers can zoom in on the map, such as to a specific EJ community, and click on it to see additional information in a pop-up.
  • While it isn’t as powerful as ArcPro/Desktop, ArcGIS Online maps are generally easier to use and to style in a visually-appealing way
  • You can easily add layers from other organizations, such as MassDOT.
  • StoryMaps are often quicker and cheaper to create than other formats.

Promoting the Bluebikes StoryMap

One of the benefits of StoryMaps is that it’s generally a more effective way of communicating the results of your work to a broader audience, including members of the press. You should coordinate with the Outreach and Communications Team to come up with a communications plan for your StoryMap. Prior to presenting the Bluebikes StoryMap to the MPO, I worked with Róisín, Annette, and Gina Perille to plan a communications strategy. This included reaching out to Boston and other municipalities that have Bluebikes, advocacy organizations with interest in bicycling, and news outlets such as StreetsBlog Massachusetts to let them know about the research and the MPO presentation. As a result, StreetsBlog Massachusetts ran a story on it, and the StoryMap itself was highlighted on social media by Bluebikes, ITDP, LivableStreets, Transportation for Massachusetts, Mass Bike, and more.

StoryMaps sounds great! How do I get started?

You’ll need an ArcGIS Online account. CTPS has an organizational account, and you can reach out to David Knudsen to get access. If you’re familiar with ArcPro/Desktop, you’ll notice some similarities with ArcGIS Online, but organization is quite different and there are some file types that aren’t in ArcPro/Desktop.

Here are a few important notes to get you started:

  • ArcGIS Online is the homebase for any online maps you want to create and data you want to store—once created, you’ll be able to add them to your StoryMap.
  • Uploading and hosting geographic data uses up credits, so you’ll want to be sure that you don’t duplicate existing data sources. Check out the Gallery tab to see maps and layers from other organizations, and the Content > My Organization tab for CTPS ones.
  • You can create groups for things like your projects, where you can store all relevant maps and data, and invite people to be part of the group
  • If you are making a StoryMap that will be available to the public, you’ll need to publish each data layer that you’re using in any maps (called “hosted layers”). (I used hosted feature layers, which are ideal for displaying and querying vector data, but there are other options as well).
  • Consider creating a layer view for a hosted feature layer when you want to have a read-only view for a public layer, but want to be able to still edit the underlying data

You do not need to know how to create a map in ArcGIS (desktop or online) to create a StoryMap. However, if you want assistance with creating a map for your StoryMap, you can consult with Data Resources staff or others who are familiar with mapping in ArcGIS Online. Graphics staff can assist you with layout and design, and as always, your text will go through editing. (I wrote the text first a General Template, and sent that to Editorial for review prior to pasting it back into the StoryMap.)

Here are some links that I found helpful as I created my StoryMap: