
Nine steps to great storytelling
Allen Carroll
Ready to make better stories? See what it takes to craft a strong narrative, then get a crash course in bringing your content to life. If you want to dive deeper, we've assembled a variety of helpful tutorials, videos, articles, and more, so you can take your mapmaking skills to the next level.
Nine steps to great storytelling
Allen Carroll
Planning and outlining your story
Hannah Wilber
Planning your next story
Esri's StoryMaps team
Moving to ArcGIS StoryMaps
Owen Evans
The first step to storytelling isn't building, it's prepping. Take time to think through key decisions, like who's your ideal reader? What do you want them to learn? Think about how you'll use photos and maps to underscore main points.
Outlining your story can be a huge help here. Choose whatever outline format makes it easiest to experiment with different ideas.
It's time to jump into the story builder. Follow your outline and use the block palette to add content. Don't be afraid to try different options.
Remember, story crafting is an iterative process. While an outline helps focus your thoughts, it's OK to deviate from the plan if it's not accomplishing what you wanted. Give yourself time to explore new ideas.
Using maps in a story helps readers connect with your message; with StoryMaps there are a few ways to quickly add them to your narrative.
Express maps let you easily draw points, lines, and areas for a simple, custom map in minutes. You can even add helpful details like text or arrows. If you need your map to go further, you can always bring in a web map (or 3D web scene).
A story's look and feel are what first alert a reader to your narrative's tone. Luckily, the themes in ArcGIS StoryMaps make it easy to try out different aesthetics to see which one fits your story best. Choose a new theme to see different font pairings, color schemes, and basemaps.
You'll also find layout options for your story's cover in the design panel.
When you're ready, publish your story to share your work with just your organization or with everyone. The shared URL will use the story's title, subtitle, and first image in a card that's perfect for social media.
Want to revise a story you've already shared? No problem. Make your edits and see them saved as unpublished changes. Just re-publish your story when you're ready.
What’s new in ArcGIS StoryMaps (March 2023)
Owen Evans
Getting started with ArcGIS StoryMaps
30 min
ArcGIS StoryMaps tutorials
Esri’s StoryMaps team
ArcGIS StoryMaps Live! webinar playlist
Esri’s StoryMaps team
Visual storytelling: bring your narrative to life
Hannah Wilber
Use express maps to help tell your story
William Hackney
Create a standout story with the design panel
Hannah Wilber
Add flavor to your stories with theme builder
William Hackney
Swipe right for a powerful storytelling tool
William Hackney
Enrich your stories with embedded web content
Hannah Wilber
A timely new block in ArcGIS StoryMaps
William Hackney
Employing, and enjoying, sidecar's three immersive
Allen Carroll and Ashley Du
Breaking the sound barrier in ArcGIS StoryMaps
William Hackney and Ross Donihue
Measure the traffic your stories receive
Ross Donihue
Supercharge your stories with map actions
Cooper Thomas
Create your first guided tour in ArcGIS StoryMaps
Hannah Wilber
Expand your storytelling with explorer tour
Mark Harrower
Including charts in ArcGIS StoryMaps
Cooper Thomas
Start your first ArcGIS StoryMaps collection
Hannah Wilber
Share your expedition story
30 min
Crowdsourced mapping for ArcGIS StoryMaps
15 min
Wondering about the nuts and bolts of moving over to our next-generation product, ArcGIS StoryMaps? We've got you covered.
Begin a conversation online.
Speak with a representative.