A story map is a digital presentation tool that pairs multimedia such as pictures, video,
animations and descriptions with the functionality of a Geographic Information System, or GIS
map.
It’s a way to break down technical information in a clean, organized way that is interesting
and informative for the public and decision-makers.
Story maps can be scaled to organize information about an entire plan, program of projects,
or a specific project.The Utah Department of Transportation used a story map to convey
detailed information about a proposed interchange upgrade on I-15, intended to improve safety
and traffic capacity in the growing community of Payson.
The story map helped the DOT communicate with the public during the project’s Environmental
Impact Statement, or EIS, and it served as the Executive Summary for the Draft EIS.The
Payson EIS project used a story map when we talked with the public about alternatives.
And, we chose to create a story map about the alternatives because the team had a lot
of alternatives.
There were eighteen alternatives to share with the public that we wanted them to understand,
and to comment on.The story map was useful both for in-person meeting presentations and
as an online resource for visitors to the project website.
Meeting attendees could get an introduction to the complex information during the meeting,
then take a closer look on their own later.
People can drill down into the level of detail that they want to see…So if you build the
story map effectively, there’s a broad overall story that the public can understand, and
then for those people who want to dig into details they can follow links, read documents,
watch videos, and so forth, to get more information based on the amount of time and interest they
have.The Utah DOT used the functional design layouts of story maps to provide their audience
with ample background about the proposed project.
The left side of the screen displayed topical information in text form, while the right
side used maps and graphics for a visual representation of the topic.Users could click through three
sets of alternatives, and toggle between variations of each to compare subtle differences on the
map.
They could also zoom in to see any feature in more detail.
During the initial outreach for the alternatives, the final page linked to a comment form where
viewers could provide feedback on the features most important to them.
In later stages, the final page explained the next steps and, during formal public comment
periods, how to provide comments.
Once UDOT selected a Preferred Alternative, new pages were added showing the design concepts,
operations, and impacts of the Preferred Alternative.
Users could select the types of impacts they wanted to see on the map, and zoom in to see
details, such as right-of-way impacts on specific properties.
We had approximately 1,400 unique visitors to the story map.
And found that about half those people came back for a second visit.
They had an average duration of just over three minutes of use and visited about half
the pages built in the story map.We’ve been using story maps at UDOT for a variety of
applications.
We use it for presentations, commission tours, we’ve used it for corridor plans.
As well as we’ve found it’s a really great tool to have available to our local government
partners.
When developing a Story Map there several things to keep in mind.
My first piece of advice is to know your audience.
Be sure you define who that story map is for.
And how much technical information can they digest?
What's their frame of reference?
So a key thing for making a successful story map is to involve both your communications
and public involvement staff, along with your GIS specialist.
It really takes both of those areas of knowledge and skill to make a good story map.
So your communications team helps identify who’s your audience, what do they need to
know, what’s our key messages that we want people to understand.
And your GIS folks know the data, they know how to present data effectively using GIS
and other graphics.
And so bring those two skills together and you can get a great story map.Creators should
also consider whether the story map has a one-time use, such as for a public comment
period, or a longer shelf-life.
Will the story map be part of a living web page, continuously updated over time?
Using this tool early on, during long-range planning, can help agencies gain valuable
public information for later use in the environmental phase of project delivery, resulting in time
and cost savings.