Mind map software, showing: Current only (historical excluded); in the categories: All; runs on: All operating systems; FOUND: 288 entries from a total of 353
Software for mindmapping and information organization

Software for mindmapping and
information organisation

Vic's compendium of software that supports knowledge management and information organisation in graphical form. Includes mind mappers, concept mappers, outliners, hierarchical organisers, KM support and knowledge browsers, 2D and 3D.More...










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"Current": available and supported. "Historical": Not supported; may be defunct (not available) or available on software download sites.

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From:  Dimitry Polivaev   Product:  Freeplane    Added:  2009-06-07
76
Screenshot mind mapping software Freeplane    
What they say:  " Product vision: be the Eclipse of the mind mapping world

We strive to develop FreePlane as a lean framework for mind mapping, with clear and well-documented interfaces, allowing for easy extension and customization by programmers, scripters and other non-developers, federating them in a lively community supporting our project vision. We furthermore strive to make FreePlane the reference implementation of a yet-to-be-developed open and extensible mind mapping file format aligned with the Open Document Format.

"
Observations:  Freeplane is in Beta at the time of writing (Jan 2010) and they claim it's pretty stable. There's a feature list, here:http://freeplane.sourceforge.net/mediawiki-1.14.1/index.php/Main_Page#Freeplane_features
It's currently available in English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Croatian.
Freeplane can open FreeMind (.mm) files at present, though as this is an independent fork of FreeMind, there can be no guarantee that this will always be so,
Where:  http://freeplane.org/
OS: Any supporting Java
Price:  Free, open source
Categories: mind maps
 
From:  DOGMELON   Product:  Note Studio    Added:  2006-03-14
77
Screenshot mind mapping software Note Studio     Screenshot mind mapping software Note Studio     Screenshot mind mapping software Note Studio    
What they say:  " "
Observations:  There apears to be no point at which this product is actually described. It's a kind of note-taking system with hyperlinks. It does not seem to have any mapping or diagramming functions.
Where:  http://www.dogmelon.com.au/ns/FAQ.shtml
OS: Mac, Palm, Windows
Price:  US$40
Categories: note-taking
 
From:  Don Scorgie   Product:  Labyrinth    Added:  2006-10-14
78
Screenshot mind mapping software Labyrinth     Screenshot mind mapping software Labyrinth     Screenshot mind mapping software Labyrinth    
What they say:  " Labyrinth is a mind-mapping tool for GNOME. It is written in Python using gtk+ and cairo for drawing.
The current version of Labyrinth, version 0.2, is the second proper release. It is still pre-alpha software though. The format used to store maps is liable to change in future versions. The layout and style of maps is also liable to change. For a list of changes, look at the latest version section."
Observations: 
Where:  http://www.gnome.org/~dscorgie/labyrinth.html
OS: Linux
Price:  Free
Categories: concept maps
 
Articles
Project estimating – Mindmaps are a tool in the armory

The key to getting something useful out of this article is to read the author’s title carefully. Mind mapping simplifies the process of project estimating -- it doesn’t simplify the actual task-time estimation. Every project manger knows that the work of a project must be broken into separate and manageable units for estimating. To look at a project and think “That’s about a week’s effort” is a recipe for frustration and missed targets. Mindmaps, spider diagrams and bubble charts are excellent for the first phase of breaking a project into manageable parts. For me mindmaps, as strictly defined by Buzan’s rules, are less suitable than spider diagrams for this type of analysis, but we can assume that Dr. Mariaraj is not being too strict in his use of the term below. [Vic]

Tony Buzan has defined these "rules" for Mind Mapping:

I believe these rules are well worth following if you use mindmaps for learning. They are very hard to follow completely and rigidly - and its not worth trying I have found - if you use mindmaps in adult life, in your work or projects.

Who invented mind mapping

This comes up from time to time - usually in the form of "Buzan didn't invent mind mapping".

Underlying theory of Concept Maps

Here are links to important scholarly papers by Joseph D. Novak and Alberto J. Cañas on Concept Maps, their theory and construction.

Semantic networks

"Semantic network" is a broad enough term to cover many forms of information map. Here is a link to an article by John F. Sowa, originally written for the Encyclopedia of Artificial Intelligence.


The opinions are Vic's but material in quotes that follows "What they say" is quoted from the vendors' web sites. Product names used in this web site are for identification purposes only. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.  If you come across any software that isn't here but you think should be, please let me know: Vic at the above domain. If you have questions about mind mapping, concept mapping or outlining, you can let me know and I'll give it my best shot.