Odyssey.js is a new open source map creation tool from CartoDB. Through Odyssey.js you can create mapped stories in three formats; slide, scroll, and torque. In all three formats viewers will see a location on a map along with the text and pictures of your story. The slide and scroll formats are fairly straight-forward, you click through slides or scroll through a story. The torque format allows you to connect elements of your map to a timeline.

Odyssey.js does not require you to know how to code, but it might feel that way the first time that you open it. Read the documentation in the tutorials carefully and you should do well with Odyssey.js. I spent thirty minutes trying it this afternoon. My biggest tip from that experience is to remember that you are writing your story in the dialogue box rather than writing it on the map. The map is simply there to support your story.

Applications for Education
Odyssey.js could be a good tool for students to use to create stories about historical events and current events that involve multiple locations. An example that I found on Google Maps Mania is this mapped story about Darwin’s voyage on The Beagle.

Odyssey.js does not require you to create an account in order to create a mapped story.

H/T to Google Maps Mania and The Next Web.