Concept mapping software Archives - The mind-mapping.org Blog

May 11, 2010April 23, 2011

Think and GraphMind

Think

Think is a Free Web App created using HTML5, Django, Google App Engine, and jQuery. In Think you can create and view mind maps that are called thoughts.

Touted as a mind mapping application, as can be seen from the screenshot, this supports concept mapping structures that depart from mind mapping’s hierarchical form.

GraphMind

GraphMind is a Drupal module (Drupal is a Content Management System). Notable is the fact that it can import and export FreeMind maps.

I have only found one screenshot, but if this can be taken as a good example, it appears that this is a left-to-right mapper that is closer to being a graphical outliner

Vic

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February 4, 2010May 4, 2010

VUE: New version in view

VUE from Tufts University has just appeared in a new version: 3.0

New data discovery and exploration tools.
Import XML documents, RSS feeds and CSV files.
New Exploration Tools panel.
Automatic zoom feature for selected items.
More automation in highlighting specific content.
Compatible with Firefox’s Zotero extension.

This is free and it runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. Worth a look, as it brings concept mapping and presentation together. As far as I know, the only other software that does that is the super-slick Prezi.

Vic (@VicGee on Twitter)

http://www.informationtamers.com/mind-mapping/
The master list of mind mapping &
information management software

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April 11, 2009December 25, 2010

Welcome Topicscape Pro 2.0 – tags, swinging panels, Oh My!

There is a new version of Topicscape Pro out now – version 2.0 and it’s a major upgrade.

Long-time followers of this blog will know that I was one of the early beta testers when Topicscape first went public. I’ve used it ever since as an information organiser and even occasionally for mind mapping.

I tried out their new offering and was delighted to find that it has tags. I’ve long wanted to gather stuff in my Topicscapes in ways that relate to what I’m doing at the time, not only based on how the items are related to one another. Now, I can have the material I’m collecting for mind-mapping.org organised according to the type of map they make, and tag them in ways like “Next update”, “Waiting for screenshots”, or “Revised entry”. Great. Makes it much easier.

There are panels at the side that swing out now, when the cursor passes over them. A much more direct way of getting at the controls than menus. And there’s a slightly weird “Halo” menu. I don’t think I shall be using that – though new users will probably like it.

The price has gone up though – $110. And all previous updates, from 1.0 to 1.6 have been free, but this one has to be paid for – $30 – unless you bought it since October last year, which I didn’t 🙁

Regards

Vic
http://www.informationtamers.com/mind-mapping/
The master list of mind mapping &
information management software

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February 16, 2009February 21, 2009

Cohere, Headspace, iThoughts, Jambalaya, Lovely Charts, ThinkDigits, TPAssist, Webspiration

It’s been a month since the last update to mind-mapping.org, and the list of items to add has built up more sharply than usual so I decided it was time to clear the decks. Apart from anything else, iPhone is keeping mindmappers busy with low-cost software to play with and there’s a new and imaginative application appearing every few days it seems.

Cohere
Cohere is a browser based collaborative visual thinking tool that allows many users to develop discussions and arguments on line and has more than a hint of concept maps about it.

Headspace
This iPhone application occupies the space partway between a 3D outliner and a mind mapper.

iThoughts
This is an impressive attempt to bring mind mapping to the screen of the iPhone.

I have successfully imported large FreeMind maps to iThoughts. With such a tiny screen, a large map is hard to make use of, but that can’t be blamed on iThoughts.

Jambalaya
Jambalaya is a plug-in for Protégé that allows domain experts to building knowledge-based systems to visualize ontologies.

Lovely Charts
A free basic diagrammer that works in your browser and has subscription-based collaboration options.

ThinkDigits
This is a fascinating fusion of information mapping and calculation. Numbers in a calculator are normally pure abstraction, and this gives them real world context. True creativity.

TPAssist
TPassist is an add on for MindManager aimed at enhancing time, task and project management using mind maps.

Webspiration
This web based version of Inspiration is now in public Beta, and free for now.

To see all the latest additions, just follow this link to additions to mind-mapping.org since 14th February 2009.

Vic Gee
http://www.informationtamers.com/mind-mapping/
The master list of mind mapping &
information management software

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September 15, 2008May 4, 2010

bCisive, GenIE & SMILE, Outliner 2.0

On Mind-mapping.org this week there are four new entries in the master list – three graphical and one a related development platform.

bCisive

bCisive is software for business decision making and diagramming. It supports building and communicating business cases as well as documenting the reasoning behind decisions.

GenIE & SMILE

GeNIe is a user-friendly development environment for graphical decision-theoretic models. It is the Windows user interface to SMILE, which is a portable library of C++ classes implementing the models.

Outliner 2.0

Outliner is an outliner for mobile phones and PDAs. It lets you create your outlines with desktop software and import them.

Vic

http://www.informationtamers.com/mind-mapping/
The master list of mind mapping &
information management software

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August 26, 2008May 4, 2010

Origins of mind mapping and concept mapping [updated]

For too long now we have had many statements about the origins of visual mapping but there are too few examples, to my way of thinking.

I’ve just written about early visual thinking maps and included a couple of cases.

If any can add to the list by providing other early examples, I’d love to have the chance to display them (with acknowledgement and link back) in this newly-begun collection. Please email me: vic [at] mind-mapping [dot] org. Idea Sunbursting is a particular case I’d like to carry an example of.

Vic

[Update, 27th Aug: linked fixed, thanks to Matthew of Banxia.]

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June 30, 2008May 4, 2010

Visuwords – a VisualThesaurus competitor

Here’s a quick update after my recent post – I found an on-line mapper showing the relationships between words, called Visuwords.

This has similarities to VisualThesaurus but it goes a stage further because it seeks to show the relationships between words using colour and shape-coded connecting lines. So what you get is a type of concept map. The part-of-speech of each word is colour-coded as well. You can’t build your own maps with it, but put in a word and you’ll see it build the relationships in front of your eyes.

A bonus: Unlike many of these on-line applications, it has an option to take advantage of a large screen.

Vic
The master list of mind mapping &
information management software

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June 28, 2008June 30, 2008

New and upgraded mind-mapping products

New on mind-mapping.org this week are three map-related tools: C-TOOLS, CharTr and Mind2Chart. And two that have been updated – VUE and MindVisualizer.

C-TOOLS

C-TOOLS is a server / web based combination for making concept maps in an educational environment. It even has an automated mark-students’-work-as-you-go capability.

CharTr

It’s early in the life of this project but it is making progress.

Mind2Chart

Not a mind mapping product, but an add-on for MindJet’s MindManager that can produce Gantt charts from a mind map with project management data included.

MindVisualizer

MindVisualizer has been upgraded with multi-centred mind maps, and the association descriptions needed for proper concept maps. Well worth a look.

VUE

I have been hoping for screenshots from VUE and now I’ve found some on the site. VUE recently became VUE 2.0, by the way. Aimed at education, this has interesting possibilities for presentations.

That’s it for this week.

Vic
The master list of mind mapping &
information management software

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June 9, 2008

Text2Mindmap, Thoughtograph, GNletting Mindmap

New in the Mind-mapping.org database this week:

Text2Mindmap

Using a simple indented outline-format text file (no section numbers, just tabs) this web-based application can build a simple tree-structured mind map.

Thoughtograph

This is mind mapping software that shows a tightly-integrated outline on the left, with the map on the right.

GNletting Mindmap

A basic concept mapping / mind mapping browser-based application.

For details of these, see their entries at the main site.

Regards

Vic

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May 16, 2008May 4, 2010

“Hands on” concept mapping

Pretty fluid, cool, and oh yeah, expensive? … once they’re past the proof-of-concept stage.

wikiWall – Stefano Baraldi’s Master’s Thesis. Projected from above. Watch it in action here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkKLLhlWm0E

And this one would catch the kiddies’ attention when they complain about having to do concept maps for homework. The Surface-like tabulaTouch.

Catch it in action at this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpJKCb8hL4g&NR=1

Vic
http://www.informationtamers.com/mind-mapping
The master list of mind mapping &
information management software

Google