If you're new to ArcGIS StoryMaps, a great place to start is exploring the stories that others have created to find ideas and inspiration for how this approach might be useful in your research and teaching.

Take the next 10-15 minutes and browse the story albums to find a story map that seems particularly interesting or that you think aligns in some way with your own work.

As you explore these stories, consider the following questions:

1. What is the purpose or the key takeaway of this story map?
2. Who seems to be the intended audience?
3. Why does geography matter (that is, how does the integration of maps and other content help to effectively tell this story)?

In relation to your own research and teaching, think about:

1. What value might a story map add for communicating the results and impact of your research? How might it enhance your ability to share your work compared to more traditional venues of scholarly communication?
2. If you are an instructor, can you think of an existing assignment that could be adapted to include the use of story maps (for example, allowing students to create a story map instead of a traditional term paper)? How could the incorporation of these technologies (and a geographic perspective) enhance student learning in your course?

These guiding questions will help to get you thinking about some of the key elements for planning a story map, as well as how story maps could be relevant to your own work. In the next section, you'll get some hands-on experience with the ArcGIS StoryMaps platform to build an example story map.

Here are a few of our recent favorites from the StoryMaps community:

• The Human Reach
• Coastal Flooding
• The Voices of the Grand Canyon 
• The myriad uses of story maps
• Innovative uses of story maps during the COVID-19 pandemic