Maps can be beautiful, engaging, and informative ways to learn or educate about a topic, and story maps offer a way to add multimedia and narrative to the mix as well.  But for the uninitiated, the prospect of creating a high-quality digital map may be daunting.  Fortunately, ESRI has created a free resource to help … Instructional Story Maps.  Here you will find approximately 20 story maps, each focused on a different cartographic concept or technique.  Examples include tutorials on creating visuals such as glowing borders or sunrise effects, an explainer on making heat maps to communicate density, as well as a series of tutorials featuring ESRI’s Cascade story map template and a series focused on the platform’s smart mapping features.  Check it out!