Tell stories with maps! ArcGIS StoryMaps sessions, exhibits, and celebrations at Esri UC 2025

Sunshine, crafty sneakers, and more buttons for the lanyard.

Esri User Conference (UC) 2025 is one week away, storytellers! And the StoryMaps team can’t wait to see you.

A lot has happened since our last meet up in San Diego, including —

• Another ArcGIS StoryMaps competition in the books
• Twelve more issues of StoryScape magazine
• A new storytelling book by Allen Carroll packed with your work
• And some game-changing product updates:

• • An AI assistant (beta) out this month
  • A suite of table, chart, and infographic capabilities
  • 360° image uploads
  • More cover, theme, and layout options
  • A new built-in option for linking stories in different languages
  • A Check items feature to manage your content
  • And so much more

Join an ArcGIS StoryMaps session to get the details and the road ahead. Share your product feedback at the expo booth. And celebrate storytelling and cartography at the Storytelling with Maps exhibit in the Map Lounge.

Add geospatial storytelling to your calendar with the information below.

Attend the sessions

As map nerds trickle into San Diego hotels and pubs, excited educators and partners — the StoryMaps team included — will rally at the Esri Education Summit on Saturday and Sunday. Here’s where you can connect with the team and build your skills.

Saturday

• 2:30pm — Engaging Digital Storytelling with ArcGIS StoryMaps
• 4:00pm — Storytelling for Science Communication with ArcGIS StoryMaps

Sunday

• 8:30am — ArcGIS StoryMaps: A Build-Along Workshop
• 10:00am — Elevate Your Storytelling with ArcGIS StoryMaps

Then bright and early Monday morning, we’ll join you — in person and virtually worldwide — for the annual celebration of GIS and the geospatial community: Esri UC Plenary. Once you’ve been inspired by the innovative work featured on stage, build your knowledge and skills with us.

Tuesday

• 10:30am — ArcGIS StoryMaps: An Overview

Wednesday

• 1:00pm — ArcGIS StoryMaps: An Overview
• 2:30pm — ArcGIS StoryMaps: Short Form Storytelling

Thursday

• 1:00pm — ArcGIS StoryMaps: Dynamic Briefings Anywhere, Anytime, Even Offline
• 1:00pm — Web Apps: The Road Ahead
• 4:00pm — ArcGIS StoryMaps: What’s New and The Road Ahead

Friday

• 9:00am — ArcGIS StoryMaps: What’s New and The Road Ahead

Excited about the options? See the ArcGIS StoryMaps custom agenda and easily add sessions to your schedule.

Share your ideas

Six years ago, ArcGIS StoryMaps — the next generation of Classic Esri Story Maps — launched with alpha and then beta testing before reaching a general audience. Since that time, your feedback and use cases have informed product development and enhancements.

Your work drives our work — even six years later.

Please stop by the ArcGIS Apps area in the expo on Tuesday and Wednesday, 9am to 5pm, and Thursday, 9am to 4pm. Share your feedback with the StoryMaps team. And show us your latest work!

Celebrate stories and the people who tell them

Every story takes place somewhere, and maps can show us where. But a good map — one that’s thoughtfully conceived and well-designed — can do so much more: It can add important context, propel the narrative forward, reveal surprising insights, and even evoke an emotional response.

Those maps, and the stories they tell, will be featured once again in the Map Lounge at Esri UC.

Head over to the Map Gallery Reception on Monday at 3:30pm for comradery and inspiring maps! Take a walk through the Storytelling with Maps exhibit to learn strategies for creating elegant and effective maps that tell stories. Chat with Allen Carroll, founder of Esri’s storytelling program and author of the new Telling Stories with Maps book, during his book signing.

Come back the next day for a Fireside Chat.

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, join informal discussions with the StoryMaps team, colleagues, and some of your favorite cartography experts about innovative ways to use place-based storytelling.

Access a digital companion to the exhibit and the Fireside Chat schedule in the July 2025 Issue of StoryScape.

Who are the cartography experts featured in the Fireside Chats? Just some of our very favorite people, like mapping wizard John Nelson of ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World. His interviews during last year’s user conference debuted on GIS Day 2024.

Join the #EsriUC2025 conversation on @ArcGISStoryMaps X and other Esri social accounts to see the selfies, the Jack sightings, and all the maps. Happy storytelling!