Some new information organizing and visualization software for you.  Things got behind as I put together the web-based mindmappers reference pages (see my post of 14th December, 2007) and continued working on the interoperability reference resource.  The web-based one is done, as previously announced here, and the interop one is approaching first publication. 

But the entries for the mind mapping software database kept piling up, so I had a clear out over the holidays, and I bring you six new programs.

Dendroscope

Information mapping for a very specialised area, evolutionary biology, but this could be stretched to other forms of hiearchical visualization, and anyway it’s free.

LinkSViewer

This is a web-based service that gathers together information about people, companies, educational establishments and all sorts of relationships and turns them into an interconnected map.  A concept map of sorts.

Shared Space

An information management tool with a mind-mapping influence.

Skrbl

Not a mind mapping tool, but an on-line whiteboard that would allow collaborative mapping.

Surfulater

Organize files in an advanced form of outline, with graphics and web pages in a browsing screen.

Solution Language Tool

A mind map and activity map editor.  No easy download for the free trial, instead you must fill in a form having five mandatory fields.

Finally, a historical note:  Rationale has been in the database since July 2007, but I just learnt of Reason!Able that it replaced, and added it for the record.

Happy New Year!
Vic

 Update: Corrected spelling of Surfulater.  December 28, 2007

There are five additions to the mind map software list at Mind-mapping.org this weekend: Imindi, PAUX, UML Explorer, Mappio and yalips.

Imindi - Something to watch - with interest.  It has high aspirations but little information on actual progress so far:

Mappio - This is not officially out yet, but it’s accessible and you can sign up without waiting.  I made a little mind map of mind-mapping.org with Mappio, but I’ve blogged about that already: http://www.mind-mapping.org/blog/?p=63  This is web based:

PAUX - Information management sofware with a visual element, an outlines element and a claim to a “multidimensional mindmap”.  I have no idea what the pricing is.  It says: Free “in the context of a development partnership” and there is no information about how it is priced outside such a partnership.  This is a thumbnail of the only image I could find of how the UI looks and feels:

UML Explorer - Part of the ModelMaker family, this UML tool can make mind maps and is at a good price point for a product with such capabilities:

yalips - Yes the lower-case name is the way they’ve registered the trademark, so I won’t capitalize it.  Makes you wonder where the name comes from.  This is another UML diagrams product that goes much further in the diagramming, and includes mind maps.  Reasonably priced for such a product as well:

As usual, there’s more information with full-size images at mind-mapping.org

Vic

Here’s a proto-product that will be interesting if it lives up to its aspirations - Imindi.

There is little more than a blog peeping up over the parapet for now:
http://imindi.typepad.com/imindisaid/2007/08/what-is-imindi.html

“The Imindi Thought Engine enables you to input your Thoughts and the semantic connections between them (Why, What, Where, When, Who, How) in a naturally radiant fashion with one thought radiating outward to one or many associated thoughts that themselves radiate outwards towards other thoughts which …” you get the idea.

“Our aim is for Imindi to integrate with … many of your favourite  third party applications …”

Just a few images for now - here’s one:

Vic

This weekend’s update to Mind-mapping.org brings a lively and colourful new mind-mapping product, Cayra; VORG Express, a free information manager; and a development platform for throw-away web applications that revolves around a MindManager mind map.

Cayra - This is an attractive program, free for now, that produces colourful maps that don’t have to represent a pure hiearchy.  It can therefore produce a limited form of concept map as well as mind maps.

VORG Express - VE is a free information manager that also has diagramming capabilities.  It has a big brother, VORG Team, which costs US$48 a year per user.  There are other products in the family that are aimed at vertical markets: Finance and medical.  

SnapXT - Finally, there’s SnapXT that uses a MindManager mind map to build collaborative web applications.  The key to its original approach to application development is that the connection between the mind map and the application is “live” - changes to the map can be reflected in the on-line application. 

 Vic

There’s an update on the amazing status of ECCO Pro.

Those with long computer memories will recall how much of a popular (almost cult) following this had soon after it was launched in 1993, with its highly customizable interface.  It’s been  on mind-mapping.org since June last year loosely under the outliners and information management categories.

 Well, I just had a comprehensive update from Jim Chisholm, and learned that there are two tech groups on Yahoo supporting it - not only that, one group is actively enhancing ECCO Pro, even making it run on USB sticks without installation on the host PC! 

And it’s all for free.

Vic

Updated:  “There is another Yahoo tech group that appears to have been formed to cover ECCO, but it is a spam site now.”

New: Curio - I mentioned this project management software with mind mapping built in recently in the blog and now it’s up on mind-mapping.org.

New: Free outliner Task Coach has been added.

New: BrainStreamer is a task manager that includes a mind mapper.

New: (Well, new to mind-mapping.org) ThinkTank a charming piece of downloadable, runnable outlining history from twenty years ago.  That cover looks strangely familiar…

New: TVO (The Vim Outliner) a free Linux outliner.

Update: The entry for TheBrain has been updated and an image has been added.

Update: The entry for 3D Topicscape has been updated, with images of 3D mind maps from the newer version.

Update: The Leo entry also has new images and a new sourceforge URL.

Vic

There are some interesting additions today.  One, Rationale, is for making argument maps, and another, Pocket FreeMind, that has potential.  The author says he may later make it produce actual mind maps on pocket devices.

gjots2: a simple, free jotter and outline processor for Linux,

NeoMem: a free outliner that lets you define different classes of record.

Rationale: A graphical tool for expressing what the makers call “Argument maps”.

Pocket Freemind: A free outliner that uses the FreeMind file format and runs on Windows Mobile.

EDrawMax: A diagramming tool that can make mind and concept maps.

 Vic

After fussing over the new blog, I had time to catch up with some of the new entries I’ve been accumulating recently (more to come).  The current trend is still mainly for on-line, browser based services.

Cumulate Draw  -=-  Free on-line diagrammer.  Could be used for mindmaps but not designed for that.  A poor-man’s MS Visio, perhaps?

SproutLiner  -=-  Free on-line outliner.  No security for your outlines (no log in) if you use an easily-guessable name.  I have not tested simultaneous multi-user access but it does not appear to be designed for real-time collaboration.

Flowchart.com  -=-  Free on-line diagramming tool.

WikiMindMap  -=-  You can’t build your own mind maps with this tool (unless you do it by building a MediaWiki), but you can choose from the millions of topics covered in many Wikis.  I think this is an intriguing tool, but one of the great values of mind mapping is the process - the thinking you do as you build the mind map. I believe WikiMindMap should be seen as a quick way to grasp the structure of wiki articles rather than as a mind mapping tool.

ThinkFold  -=-  On-line collaborative outlining service.

MAK (MindMap and Knowledgemanager)  -=-  Knowledge Content Management System - seems dormant.

InfiView  -=-  Not a mind mapper or other form of tool for graphical information management, but a development environment for such products.

Projekt S60  -=-  Outliner for Symbian-based mobile phones.

InfoRapid Cardfile System  -=-  A kind of outliner.

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

Past versions of mind-mapping.org were limited and made users search for what they wanted from the “all products” list.

Some users asked if I could add a search function so that they could check if a specific product was there.  Others want to to look at, for example, all mind mapping software that ran on a Mac, or all concept mapping and mind mapping products that could be used from a browser, from the Web, with no software to install.  Many wanted to know the cost of software and one person wanted to be able to check all items added after a specific date so that when they call back from time to time, they can see what’s new.

 So I’ve added the selection and filtering in a tab at the top-right of each software list page, and each entry shows what I know about price (it’s not always clear on the publishers’ web sites), and when I added the item to my local database - which is always within a week if the information appearing on line.  I decided to cut out the historical records by default, but you can tick a checkbox to see them as well.

So that’s what I was vain enough to call ”fully instrumented”.  I’ve no doubt someone will soon point out an essential missing item and I shall slap my forehead and have to add more.

I did have a request to add reviews for all products.  Hmmm . . . I reckon a very minimal review would take a couple of full-time days, and with, right now, 162 current products, I could say goodbye to a year of my life.  Jus’ ain’t practical, I’m sorry.  But I’m thinking about how to get user reviews on-line without inviting the spammers in.

Vic

The mind-mapping.org site has been around for almost eighteen months now, and after many requests to provide an RSS feed for new stuff at the site (I don’t know how to do that), I’ve added a blog.  I’ll announce new additions here in this blog, and if you’re interested, you can subscribe to its feed and get to know about the updates that way.

Not only new items - I’ll also include notes about new versions of mind mapping and information management software as it’s released (and as I find out about it).

This site started as a personal collection of information on this type of software.  I’ve been mind mapping in one form or another for longer than I care to admit and was always on the lookout for software that helped. 

I started with Mind Manager and still use it, though I find the upgrade prices a bit steep.  Now I play with FreeMind sometimes.  That’s a mixture of rather basic in some ways, and very sophisticated in others - the attribute capability is useful to me.

Once mind mapping was available on computers, I started using it for information management as well.  That wasn’t so successful because of space on the screen, but then Topicscape came along and solved that problem, and wikis with mind mapping capabilities too, so I started adding information management software to the database.  I’ve never taken a rigid view of mind mapping, whatever Tony Buzan says, so I gathered concept mapping products and other diagramming tools.

Outliners came into the information I collected because the idea isn’t so different from mind mapping, it’s just less flexible.  But when you have a mind map and want to turn it into a report, you’re likely to get there via an outline anyway - or at least an indented text format.

I do apply the criterion of requiring a visual element to the presentation of the information shown in the software collected here.

As I collected information from all over, across the years, I stuck it in an Access database.  Once I had enough it started to become a useful source, so I decided to share it so now it gets banged into MySQL on-line and the end result was the mind-mapping.org site.

The original site. 137 items, all on one page!

I’ve been collecting the information for more than ten years, so there’s plenty about products and free services that came and went.  I decided to keep those as history, but flagged them so they can be filtered out for most readers.  If you’re looking for information about what once existed, you can see the historical items by ticking the “Historical software” box in the “Refine software” tab.

Many people have written to suggest new items - my thanks to them.  Some have told me what they don’t like, and I thank them as well - their comments have made me improve the searchability, filtering and information shown.

Mind-mapping.org today - fully instrumented . . .

Keep on mapping, and keep the feedback coming!

Vic