I am often asked “Which is the best mindmapping software?”
It’s a complicated question, because I’m not one of those mind mapping fundamentalists who think that mind mapping has to be done one way no matter what the maps is for, no matter who’ll see it and no matter how long it is expected to live and grow … Oh, and before I forget, no matter what your budget is!
So I wrote an article on topicscape.com, talking about which software I’ve found best for what.
That was two or three years ago, and it needed an update, better organization and more images to help readers see the types of maps produced. Moving the updated article to WikIT, the mind mapping wiki, seemed like a good idea as well.
At long last, Topicscape’s free Student Edition has been upgraded to version 2.0, with many ease-of-use enhancements, incorporating some of the elements first seen in Topicscape Pro 2.0 :-
Topicscape SE is aimed at students wanting an easy and attractive way to record their web research and revision notes, and prepare homework and term papers. It can import from FreeMind and export back to FreeMind.
It may not have the 2D/3D, tagging, import/export juicyness of Topicscape Pro 2.5, but it’s a useful tool for study . . . and it’s fun.
Oh, and did I mention it’s free? . . . and always will be.
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!
WikIT, the mind mapping wiki, has just published a list of all the free software for making mind maps, concept maps and other types of information map.
There’s a new version of the Topicscape Beta that’s going through testing now, and it’s up on line.
But before going into the details, can we ask for more feedback on the Beta – things you haven’t already told us about? (And thanks for all the feedback so far.) Even if you’re not trying the Beta right now, we’re still glad to hear from you about Topicscape generally.
1. What is your experience when using the new Beta? We know many people like it, they’ve told us, but what do you not like about it? How could it be improved?
2. Did you download the skins to use in Beta? (If not, you can use the usual skins installer and install it, but select the Beta checkbox when the installation starts.)
3. Which skin do you mostly use?
4. Do you tweak the skins to your own taste (for example by using the Skin button in the new swinging Quick Options panel)?
Feel free to include comment about aspects of Topicscape that exist in the pre-Beta version as well.
Full details are in the revised PDF file, as before with the additional features and changes (since the second release of this Beta) highlighted.
The additions / changes are as follows: - Deleting entire Topicscapes can now be done from the File menu so that you don’t have to dig around with Windows Explorer (thanks Alex). - Tags can now be edited or deleted throughout a Topicscape, so if you wanted to change all references to a tag “Tuesday meeting” to “Sales meeting”, or even delete all references to “Tuesday meeting”, this can be done in one operation (thanks Ian).
- The Help system has been updated with most of the new capabilities described in detail.
- In Vista, Topicscape’s capability to use Windows Desktop Search (WDS) for searching file contents, was broken. This is now fixed (thanks to observation from ”tireless Ian” again).
So, once more, we have user feedback to thank for these improvements. Keep the suggestions coming folks, and thank you for all the input.
A quick reference to download locations is below.
Roy (follow me on Twitter @roygrubb for mind mapping tips and hints)
3D Topicscape Pro, the only true 3D mind mapping software, is moving into an all new version: vsn.2.0. Here’s an opportunity for you to see the tool that makes information overload easier to cope with by letting you see much more of your information at one time, organized just how you like it and laid out in a landscape before you.
This new version brings you easy-to-use and powerful 3D software in an even easier form.
Full details of Beta 2.0 are in a picture-rich document here. Meanwhile, here’s a summary of the new features that make this a great upgrade:
• Tagging
• Halo menu on topics, and associated dynamic help
• Innovative swinging panels
• Topic footprints
• Quick view of topic contents
• Topic name layout improvement
• Neighborhood views
• Additional built-in demo
• PB5 import update
• and more…
You can see here how our beta tests work http://www.topicscape.com/betahow.php and then if you’re interested in this exciting information organizer, move on to the Beta application form and choose a user name and password … http://www.topicscape.com/applybeta.php We need a few details about your computer so that we can know it has a good chance of running Topicscape.
The Beta will work without a license, whether you have previously installed Topicscape or not, until March 31st.
We’re keen to hear what you think, whether you find any problems, and what suggestions you have. You can contact us for help and feedback.
Yesterday MindManager 8 came out – many bloggers have written about it already. I upgraded yesterday, installed today, and decided to make use of one of its new features: The ability to make active PDF files and Flash files from MindManager mind maps.
Recently I’ve been reading read How Wikipedia Works (Ayers, Matthews and Yates), and mindmapping the key points as I went. Now, I can share it with others who want a slim and quick summary of what it takes to work on Wikipedia – basic commands and policies you need to know about.
Maybe you’ll find this useful. You can download the .mmap file, the .pdf, the Flash file or even a plain old .jpg. The first three give you many useful active links to specific pages in Wikipedia. If you use the image instead, you’ll have to key the URL in yourself, but they are set out in full in text on the map.
Just in time for the start of the school term, a new version of 3D Topicscape SE has just been released.This is SE v.1.1 and has the following improvements:
It now runs with Vista’s Aero Theme if the PC is Aero-capable (and if you use Intel graphics hardware, do be sure to get their latest driver).
It starts and runs more quickly, and shows smoother flying (within the limits of the PC and graphics hardware).
It has a new way of showing the structure (relationship names of all topics to the Current Topic).Press Ctrl+A once to see this.This display times-out after 5 seconds and then goes back to showing your own topic names.Alternatively press Ctrl+A again to revert immediately.
Button icons have been improved.
The location for viewingthe Home position (on pressing the Home key) has been improved.
I’ve mentioned in a few places that I use MindManager and I have been asked about this a few times and how I use it, given my association with Topicscape, so here’s the answer.
I use MindManager when I have a small, discrete area, project or topic I want to map. A concrete example – I’ve got a telecon tonight with an academic who wants to discuss a couple hundred licenses. I have only had inquiries about academic licenses from individuals before and they were easy – a straight discount if they had an email address with .edu, .ac or similar in it. (Not surprising really, as we have a free student edition.) But for a bulk purchase I needed to think through all the options about support; academic + bulk discounts; who owns the license; sell a subscription or sell a license; and a few other things.
This can be done in Topicscape, but I knew it was probably going to be no more than 20 or 30 nodes. A 2D mindmap is fine, and if it becomes bigger so that it no longer fits on my screen, I’ll import it to Topicscape, which can read a MindManager .mmap file directly and translate it to 3D. Even as I’m writing this I realize I need to think about how the subscription would be implemented if they like that option, how the web site needs to change to deliver this, how we would renew a subscription – I’m mapping that as I write.
Then it becomes the basis for developing future academic pricing policy, based on experience with the first one, sales plan to reach out to tertiary education institutes, and development plan to meet specific educational needs. Or it might become an anchor for a post mortem discussion – why did we not get this sale, how will we change, sales plan again? Because it’s not in the bag yet.
None of this is very Buzan. It’s more MindManager-style business mapping. Long phrases per node, an occasional relevant web page.
But once I start gathering information, making concrete notes, planning the actual implementation, I’ll be importing the mind map into Topicscape and using it as the mind mapping information organizer it is.
Another example is different. I’m planning a new web site on a specific area of use of Topicscape. I am slowly building a more Buzan-like mind map over a period of weeks, visiting it only occasionally as new areas come to mind. No pretty colors though – I’m not trying to learn something, or show related areas to other people – but one word per branch (two at most). Because I find that sometimes, just sometimes, that really makes thinking a topic through more rigorous and opens up pathways that would get blocked by longer phrases.
It’s unlikely that I would ever put that one into Topicscape. Hold on … having written that, I might, just to see what effect it has on my thinking.
Often I start in Topicscape straight away, especially if I know it’s going to grow quickly, or I already have files, websites and notes to pull together, or a hierarchy of folders already organised that I just want to see more clearly, and more at once.
Sometimes, with my developers, we sit round a table with a piece of A3 paper in the middle and map on that, or with clients I map in front of a flipchart, but more often with MindManager. I just did the latter with the developers, looking at how we would implement the subscription model.
