Story maps cascade (Beta) - a few bugs / suggestions - note this is only in cascade and happened since the December AGOL update.

[AndreaAdair]

1. In the 'title' field - you cannot paste text into it - you can only type. Also, you cannot change the font or the colour. The title's default is at the top of the page and it would be good to move it around. Also cannot use the scroll feature.

2. Problems with adding a video - the videos (embedded and immersed) automaticaly play when scrolling to them. However, this does not happen when you put the videos in the 'narrative' section. Also, videos break when trying to play them when on a phone (Android & Chrome). Also, story maps jumps to random sections and plays up when on the phone - it also does this when you rotate the phone.

3. In edit mode, when you change any text to italics or hyperlinks the text becomes large in edit mode. Also when you are in edit mode, map links can be unreliable - when you have multiple maps of the same area e.g. 1,2,3,4 - customer says that the story map can forget the first one.

4. Problems with the web map in cascade - the web map does not remember the configurations - only remembers the web map configurations. This is time consuming to have to change it every time. Also, cannot change the basemap in cascade.

[OwenGeo]

Hi Andrea,

Thanks for taking the time to submit feedback about Cascade.

1. I am able to reproduce this issue. Pasting text into the title field in an immersive section does not work. We'll look to fix that in an upcoming release. Changing text color in titles is not currently supported, but I've taken note of your request for this feature.
2. Video
   1. Different autoplay behavior: The behavior you describe for videos in immersive sections (autoplay) and narrative sections (no autoplay) is as expected. We plan to add an autoplay setting for videos in narrative sections in a future release. 
   2. There are some known issues with videos on mobile that we are looking into.
3. I cannot reproduce the issues you described with large text in edit mode. Could you please let me know what you mean by "map links?" Also I'm not sure I understand the second situation you described here. Could you provide more description and/or a screenshot of your multiple map configuration and what is not working as expected? What type of section are these maps in?
4. I also could not reproduce the issues you described with saving map configurations. Any changes you make to the map (layer visibility, map extent, pop-up) while viewing the Appearance tab in edit mode will be saved when you click the blue checkmark. To change the basemap for a map you're using in Cascade you need to open up the map in the arcgis.com map viewer and make the change there. We plan to add map creation and editing as a feature of the Cascade builder in the first half of this year.

Owen

[AndreaAdair]

Hi Owen,

Many thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I am raising the bugs/suggestions on behalf of a customer as they had raised these via a support call. I forwarded on your request for additional information and they responded yesterday evening with the information below: -

Here are some thoughts based on the points below. I'd be grateful if you could pass them on.

1: Title copy-paste issue: it's good to know that this will be fixed / functionality enhanced

2: Video: Also good to know about the planned improvements. One option I had tried was to include videos as media in narrative panels of immersive sections, where the viewer can choose to click play, but the video would not auto switch off. For this it would be good to have an option for the video / audio to play for the rest of the immersive section e.g. where some music applies to the rest of the content in the immersive section.

3: Font issue: This video in Dropbox illustrates the bug: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ws9hw8q9o7t6in6/Immersive%20section%20bugs%20w%20title%20can%27t%20paste%20and%20hyperlinks%20change%20to%20large%20font.mp4?dl=0

The map issue is shown on the next link:

During edit, if you change the view of a map in a sequence the map is changed in the previous views. I found by accident that sometimes this hasn't actually happened - it just appears to have happened, but you can't find out for sure without a save and refresh, which is obviously confusing and time-consuming:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ws9hw8q9o7t6in6/Immersive%20section%20bugs%20w%20title%20can%27t%20paste%20and%20hyperlinks%20change%20to%20large%20font.mp4?dl=0

4: Map configurations: Sometimes the blue checkmark save doesn't work, so you make changes and think they've been saved only to find out later that they haven't e.g. to move map around to coincide with another view. Sometimes the zoom controls disappear during edit. Sometimes the configuration isn't remembered. The process is all rather glitchy and unreliable.

An extra suggestion for saving views:

To enable views of two or more consecutive web maps to be identical (e.g. to compare a layer of data on imagery basemap with street basemap to provide a 'swipe' effect), like the 'snapshot view' function in Google Earth. At present the only way to achieve this is manually by trial and error which is time-consuming.

I hope that helps. I'm keen to help out in any way to make the apps work better.

I've been assembling two Cascade story maps, one of which I would like to share publicly very soon. I would welcome any advice about the time frame for improvements especially to the functionality with video and mobiles. I can change all the videos from immersive sections to narrative sections, but if the video / mobile functionality will be improved I may be able to wait for that.

Many thanks

Andrea

Andrea Adair

Support Analyst | Customer Success Group | Esri UK

Wesler House, 45 Church View, Holywood, Co Down, BT18 9DP

T: 01296 745 555

E: aadair@esriuk.com<mailto:aadair@esriuk.com> E: support@esriuk.com<mailto:support@esriuk.com> W: www.esriuk.com<http://www.esriuk.com/>

[GeoNet]

Hi Owen

I've only just been able to resume using GeoNet and Andrea kindly conveyed the issues on my behalf.

Further to the points mentioned already, I have found some further issues. It may well be that these are already in hand, but I thought I should report them nonetheless.

1: Use of Cascade on some devices is very glitchy

Android Smartphone: During scrolling, the Cascade story map may jump to a section ahead of the next or even more than one behind the previous. As previously mentioned, videos embedded in Immersive Sections seem particularly problematic.

I am particularly concerned about a Story Map just completed. I initially wrote it with two youtube videos in Immersive Sections. Although it worked OK on my Windows laptop in Chrome, it did not work well on my android smartphone or on a friend's iPad in Safari. In a copy of the story map, I changed the videos to Narrative Sections.

Here are the links to the two versions of the Story Map:

• Two youtube videos in Immersive Sections (IV = Immersive Videos): http://arcg.is/2jjr5NF
• Two youtube videos in Narrative Sections (NV = Narrative Videos): http://arcg.is/2joJys9

The NV worked better on the Android smartphone, although it still 'jumps' sections sometimes. However, on the iPad using Safari browser, neither works - see video using NV:

Dropbox - Narrative section won't scroll using iPad.MP4

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xsiwz5dbzszgoam/Narrative%20section%20won%27t%20scroll%20using%20iPad.MP4?...

2: The thumbnails stopped appearing in Tweets about Story Maps – this somewhat detracts from the strength of tweeting about a story map. I’ve noticed that some tweets have added an image instead, but there’s no click through functionality with this. I’ve been careful to scrupulously follow the Esri protocols about thumbnails, so it’s now quite frustrating that they’re not appearing.

3: I’ve also tried embedding Spotify to such story maps. I can do this using the embed codes generated by Spotify, but wondered if there could be options for configuring their appearance and functionality in Cascade and other story maps.

Many thanks for all your support

Brendan

[DouglasKnox1]

I've been having a lot of problems with the Cascade format on my work iPad and personal iPad. I have Safari and Chrome browsers on both iPads and the problems happen regardless of the browser used.  Either things don't display at all or when they do display and I scroll down I get bombed out of the app and it give an error message saying it needs to reload. I'd say this happens at least 8 out of 10 times I try to access a cascade story map.

Doug.

[GeoNet]

Hi Owen

I was wondering if you'd been able to make any progress with the issues in the messages above and below. I have just been updating a couple of Cascade story maps and have encountered the same problems as before with the configuration of maps.

For one shorter Cascade, I managed to change set the maps so that the Interaction Enabled button was switched on.  On the way to achieving this however, it was very tricky to get Cascade to 'remember' the configurations.  With the longer Cascade, this problem was very bad, so I have kept most of the maps with Interaction Disabled, which would not be my normal preference.

Sometimes this occurs within a duplicate sequence (e.g. when altering the configuration in one (zoom or layers) this is inadvertently copied back to a previous map in the sequence, so the original setting is lost) or between two different maps (e.g. one map's configuration is inadvertently copied back to a different map in the sequence, sometimes changing the previous map or its layers which then have to be reset).

Also, when configuring duplicate maps, you can make some changes, click the blue tick, but the Cloud 'Save' button doesn't turn blue, as if Cascade hasn't detected any change.  If you then click the Cloud 'Save', the changes are not saved.  This is very frustrating.

All the best

Brendan

[OwenGeo]

Hi Brendan,

I'm sorry those issues are still affecting you, and thank you for taking the time to submit feedback. We have not had a software release since the messages above were posted; our next release is at the end of February and we hope to address some of the issues that you mentioned in that release.

It would be helpful if you logged incidents with Esri Support so they could document the specific steps to reproduce the issues you are encountering.

Owen

[LindseyDesmul]

I am also having the same issue with the multi-view map configuration. I have tried replicating the same map into two panels and changing the configuration of each one while in "Appearance". I have never gotten it to save my chosen map configuration, leading to many frustrating hours in front of the computer. 

Are there any tricks to fixing this or do I need to scrap the idea altogether? 

Thanks!

Lindsey

[OwenGeo]

Lindsey/Andrea -- Sorry you've been having trouble. We just released an update this week and have fixed several issues with map configuration. Could you take a look again and let me know if you are still seeing issues or not able to do what you expect?

[LindseyDesmul]

 Hi Owen,

What a difference 24 hours makes. It seems that the latest update has fixed the map configuration problem and it now functions as it should. As a precaution I still save each view after I change it and then refresh the map to make sure the changes were saved, but I'm sure that paranoia will eventually disappear. 

Thank you for taking our concerns into consideration!

Lindsey