Social Explorer is a web-based mapping and analytics platform that allows users to explore and visualize historical and current demographic data for the United States. It includes data from the U.S. Census Bureau, as well as from other sources. Social Explorer is a good option fir users who are interested in understanding how demographic trends have changed over time.
Click the Tell a Story icon at the top of the controls located in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
Click Start Your Story to create your story in a presentation-style format.
Click Add cover in the left-hand side panel to add a cover slide to your story. You can also add a title and a short description to the cover slide. To change the background of the cover slide, click the More icon next to the slide. You can either upload your own image or paste a link to a video as a background for the cover slide.
To add more slides to your story, click Add new slide. You can also duplicate existing slides to add more slides to your story. When adding a new slide to your story, you can choose from three different viewing modes: single, side by side, and swipe.
Social Explorer maps serve as the base for Story Editor slides. Click the More icon next to a slide to add a title and a column of descriptive text to your slides.
To preview your story, click Preview Story in the left-hand sidebar. Click Exit Preview when done.
Click the share icon at the top of the screen and then click Copy Link to share fully interactive versions of your story maps. You can also export static versions of these stories as a PowerPoint file. Click Export as PowerPoint in the map header.
Digital Democracy has created a template that uses MapLibre GL JS to create an interactive storymap.
You can fin the storymap template in their GitHub.
If you want to learn how to use the template, follow our online tutorial.
Location-Based Storytelling:
Media Integration:
User-Friendly Interface:
Customization:
Compatibility:
Storytelling with Maps:
Three Layout Modes:
Integration with Mapping Technologies:
Interactive Elements:
Customizable and Developer-Friendly:
Open Source: