OK now we’re getting there. 

Here is the mind mapping wiki in 3D

Hover over a topic, and if it has a link, you’ll see an ‘open link’ button.  Click that to open the appropriate article in WikIT.

This is Topicscape WebView and it’s getting better all the time with user feedback, like the request to open web pages more easily.

You can fly, zoom, search and re-center the landscape on a different topic, just as with Topicscape itself.

There’s WebView Help here: http://www.topicscape.com/topicscape-wiki/index.php?title=WebView_Help but for an even shorter version try these:

• To search: Just type.
• To fly: Use keyboard cursor arrow keys (then add Shift, Alt or Ctrl).
• Press the Home key to return to the starting position.
• Slow zoom with + and - on the number pad.
• Dramatic Quickzoom: Hold Shift, then click on topic cones.
• Hover over topics to see …
  • details in the Details Panel,
  • an enter button, and
  • sometimes an “open link” button.
• Click a topic cone to reorganize the landscape around it.

Don’t forget you need an up-to-date driver for your 3D graphics hardware for WebView to work (just like Topicscape).  Here’s reference for Troubleshooting.

Roy

Yes, it’s left its Beta status and gone gold:  You can now download 3D Topicscape Pro 2.5.

• Differences;
• What’s new;
• Pro licenses
• ‘Help’ migrates to wiki;
• User-made video.

The differences from 2.15 are very significant.  Most noticeable is that it allows an almost instant switch between 3D and 2D views. 

But also, it has options for flying like Google Earth (in 3D) or Cooliris (in 2D – see above), improved navigation and user controls, much greater visibility of files and file previews from the 3D and 2D views, enhanced MindManager import, and the capability of moving the main “My Topicscapes” folder around without re-installing and manually copying files. It has now been tested for Windows 7 compatibility.

The illustrated “What’s New” page has details of a couple of additional capabilities that weren’t mentioned in the Beta What’s new. 

If you have a Topicscape Pro 2.0 license, you will be able to run vsn. 2.5 straight away – it’s a free upgrade.  A reminder: Topicscape Pro 1.0 users can upgrade for a modest $29.99 charge by clicking the Buy Now button.  If you accidentally load a Pro 1 license into Pro 2, Topicscape will fail to load some components and won’t run.  In that case, you’ll have to uninstall Topicscape Pro 2 and install it again.

With the release of 2.5, we have decided to mostly externalize the Help system.  Topicscape Pro itself now contains a 20-page Help of essential information, but the main help is half-way through being transferred to the Topicscape Wiki – a few more days and we hope to have that done.  It has a fully hyperlinked Contents page.  This means we can update the help without having to release a new installer.  If you still want the Help on your PC for offline reference, you can download the PDF.

One of our users, David Esko, made a great vid: http://is.gd/5phL4 Take a look!

Roy

To make the big list of free mind mapping software even more useful, every entry now has a thumbnail screenshot.

How many different items?  73 pieces of software (looks more because some are capable of making more than one type of information map.

Here are the types of software covered:

• 3D concept and mind map
• Concept map
• Development platforms for various map forms
• Diagramming and flowcharting
• Hyperbolic tree making
• Free information & knowledge management
• Software for making maps of arguments, belief, idea support, debates, decisions and influence
• Mind map
• Software to represent ontologies and taxonomies graphically
• Presentation map software
• Treemap
• Whiteboard software
• Wiki-related graphical software

Roy

This one really appeals to my association of knowledge and information with landscape (which is where Topicscape came from). For pointing it out, I have to thank Jeremy Wagstaff, who reviewed Topicscape a year ago in the Wall Street Journal.

It’s knowledge (well, Life really) as a landscape and it comes from the blog of Green Chameleon, a commenter on knowledge management, here: http://www.greenchameleon.com/gc/blog_detail/mapping_knowledge_management/