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Stories

Stories are a long-form storytelling format that combine text, maps, media and embedded web content. Whether you’re a creator, writer, or travel enthusiast, stories allow you to craft a compelling narrative and inspire any audience.

Maps: Give context with places

Take your readers on a journey where your story happens. You only need a few minutes to make a map.

  • Express maps

    Highlight places or areas of interest. Enhance your maps with pop-ups, images, labels, arrows and other elements.

  • Activity maps

    Showcase your outdoor activities, such as hiking, running, and cycling, on a map with a terrain profile and activity stats including distance, time, and elevation gain.

  • Thematic maps

    Bring your data to life on a custom map. Show how things are related to each other like patterns, and trends.

  • Ready-to-use maps

    Browse a library of pre-designed maps related to topics like history, geography, the environment, and climate that you can add directly to your stories.

Immersives: Provide engaging experiences

Create dynamic experiences for readers with ready-to-use interactive elements

Sidecar

Pair descriptive text with large, dynamic media to draw readers deep into your narrative

See sidecars in action

Explorer Tour

Curate a set of places your audience can peruse in whatever order they choose

Check out explorer tours

Guided Tour

Navigate your readers to locations one-by-one in an intentional and revealing order

Dive into guided tours

Slideshow

Add an interesting aside or optional deep dive as a click-through carousel

Take a look at slideshows

Multimedia: Go beyond words

Tell your story how it’s meant to be told using a variety of visuals

Learn about multimedia

  • Images

    Bring your own images; StoryMaps supports the most popular formats

  • Video

    Upload your own files or link to a third-party provider like YouTube

  • Audio

    Add sound to your story as click-to-play elements or on-demand in the background

  • Embeds

    Bring live web content, like social posts or other websites, directly into your story

Frames

Bring the art of storytelling right to your fingertips! Frames are short, engaging stories with photos and maps optimized for on-the-go editing and viewing. Frame templates distill the very best elements of StoryMaps into the mobile app where time and place sets the stage for your stories.

Learn more about frames

Timeline

Share a step-by-step timeline to recap a recent trip, document progress of your latest project, or highlight meaningful memories of a new pet.

Timeline frames

Journey

Easily map your story with automatic location tagging of your photos. Showcase landmarks, road-trips, and more with the journey template.

Journey frames

Custom

Share your favorite outdoor activities or highlight a recent adventure with maps, photos, quotes, and more.

Custom frames

Themes

Change the color scheme, font and design of your content with a single click. Choose from a range of options provided or create your own easily.

Learn about themes

Customize the look

The right appearance sets the tone of your story. With custom themes, you can give your story a look of its own.

  • Colors

    Specify up to three accent colors to use throughout your content

  • Text

    Choose from our font selection or the thousands available from Google Fonts

  • Map

    Specify the basemap and symbology that best suit your subject

  • Components

    Adjust other elements—buttons, quote styles, etc.—to complement your story’s tone

Curate collections of content

Combine a group of related stories, files and other web content into a collection and give your audience a single link to view everything

Check out these collections curated by our editors

  • Files

    Upload images, PDFs, and more to further enhance the story you’re telling

  • URL

    If it lives on the web, you can include it in a collection, all you need is the link

  • Layouts

    Showcase your collection content in a variety of layout options

  • Design

    Apply standard and custom themes consistently to stories and collections