ArcGIS StoryMaps Blog

The new frame format in ArcGIS StoryMaps is ideal for sharing maps and information with large public audiences. And the modern audience’s expectations about where and how to get information has prompted organizations to proactively share their stories on popular social platforms, such as LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and the Meta apps (Facebook, Instagram, and Threads).

For many of these social platforms, when you post a StoryMaps URL, a share card with the item's title,  subtitle, and cover image are displayed. However, in order to see the contents of the story, the viewer has to click and open it in a separate viewer. When sharing frames to these platforms, it can be helpful to upload a video or PDF file directly to your post so that viewers do not have to open the link to see your content. A new feature in frames can create these video and PDF files for you.

The December 10, 2025 release of ArcGIS StoryMaps added a new SHAPE property to StoryMap themes that enables you to configure the rounding of corners for media blocks and other visual elements in your ArcGIS StoryMaps content.

This SHAPE property has been applied to the standard themes in a way that reflects the previous styling of the buttons in each theme to help realize our original vision for the standard themes.

This year, Esri’s ArcGIS StoryMaps and Living Atlas teams are cohosting the 2025 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition to share best practices and innovation in storytelling, cartography, and data visualization—and to help you elevate the challenges that mean the most to you.     

Read on for more competition details and resources to get started.

• What are the competition categories?
• Who can participate?
• What is ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World?
• What makes a winning story?
• Who are the guest judges this year?
• What’s the best place to start?

Competition closes December 12, 2025. 

Visit the 2025 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition website to get started. We can’t wait to see what you create. 

To provide more flexibility in the way you and your audience use collections, two new collection modes are now available.

If you are looking to preserve one or more popular Shortlist stories, you can use the simple process outlined below to migrate your Shortlist layer to a hosted feature layer that can be immediately used in ArcGIS StoryMaps.

In a previous post, we shared how to use Arcade to combine information from several feature layer fields into a new field that can be used for a map tour description. The process in that blog works well when your tour requires a short description, but you can take this to the next level and use HTML formatting if your tour places need longer descriptions with multiple paragraphs, lists, and links. 

Classic Esri Story Maps will be retired from ArcGIS Online in Q1 2026 and was retired with ArcGIS Enterprise 11.0. This article contains essential information to help you and your organization manage the retirement of classic Esri Story Maps and successfully transition to ArcGIS StoryMaps.

Classic Esri Story Maps will be retired from ArcGIS Online in Q1 2026 and was retired with ArcGIS Enterprise 11.0. For more details, review the most recent announcement: Classic Esri Story Maps Roadmap for Retirement.

Retired means the code for these apps will be removed from ArcGIS Online, so you will no longer be able to access your classic stories at their previous links or URLs. If you wish to view classic stories after the retirement date, you can use the process described in this article host your own copy of the classic app code. 

Esri's Make an Impact with Modern Geo Apps massive open online course (MOOC) opens on April 9, but you can register now. The course includes an entire week devoted to exploring ArcGIS StoryMaps capabilities and workflows. Join in on the fun! 

Have you ever deleted a map or layer in ArcGIS Online, only to discover that it was used in one of your stories? I have. Using this ArcGIS Notebook, you can sift through the layers, maps, and apps within your stories and protect them from accidental deletion.