I love to scribble on a piece of paper to organize my thoughts. I actually keep a drawing book handy and use that any time I am thinking up a strategy. My mind maps are not as organized as many tools can create, but they do the job! But if you need to share your ideas with someone else, you need something better than just pen and paper! Here are a few tools that can help you capture and map yours and your buddies ideas in a “beautiful” way!
- Gliffy – can use for many other purposes, we use it quite often
- Mindomo – elegant designs
- Bubbl.us – simple online brainstorming
- Thinkature – realtime online collaboration tool
- Comapping – collaborative
- MindMeister – easy online mind mapping
- Kayuda – mind mapping online
- Flowchart.com – online flow charting plus more
And of course, you can use so many desktop mind mapping tools if you wish, including FreeMind. You may also want to check out the Mind Mapping blog.
Mind mapping is a very effective exercise. I have been using Freemind for about 2 months now and it’s the best way to keep all your thoughts in one place and take a look when you have the right time to explore those hidden ideas.
Although once the map is flooded anybody else taking a look at it can get scared of the complexity it shows. But anybody who uses Mind Maps – for them it’s a great tool to read.
Well, you know I had the same problems with complex map. Other people had a difficult time to review because of scrolling left to right and up and down. But one called Comapping I found quite interesting. It uses a left to right mind mapping technique and developed in such a way that one does not have to use scrolling at all. I tested it with some collegues and they had far time easier getting and overview of a mind map in the comapping application. Its more intuitive for people to understand especially if they dont know mind mapping.
Good list. It’s especially useful to be able to work on a mind map with colleagues in different cities. It’s worth mentioning that Kayuda can do concept maps as well as mind maps.
There’s a few more browser-based applications that do mind mapping, concept mapping, diagramming or make outlines
Outliners___________________________
sproutliner.com Basic on-line outliner that lets you share outlines
thinkfold.com Collaborative on-line outlining application
Information mapping_________________
bubble-mind.com Collaborative mind mapping
glinkr.net Concept mapping and mind mapping (shared but not collaborative)
mapul.com Collaborative mind mapping with an organic flavour
mind42.com Collaborative mind mapping
touchgraph.com URL mind maps for network visualisation
webofweb.net Collaborative mind mapping
writemaps.com Web-site hierarchical maps
Generic diagramming__________________
cumulatelabs.com/cumulatedraw/ Collaborative diagramming – can draw mind maps and concept maps
imaginationcubed.com Collaborative diagramming – can (just about) draw mind maps and concept maps
In a slightly different vein, I really like wikimindmap.org, it will make mind maps from a chosen WikiMedia article.
Vic
http://www.mind-mapping.org
The master list of mind mapping &
information management software
I’ve been using mindmaps and trying out software for years. Nothing has beaten pen and paper so far, but some of these on the list look very promising! 🙂
Thanks for posting.
Haris
Haris, I agree with you – there is nothing better than pen and paper. Infact I support my Freemind usage with a little black pocket diary which takes care of my random thoughts and ideas. However I think a digital mind mapping is useful especially to keep the thoughts connected in one context and also let’s not forget digital makes it easy to share across the group.
Thank you very much for posting this information. I am currently working to develop an entrepreneurial network to share/develop ideas with some friends and colleagues. I have reviewed these sites and they will be extremely helpful. I particularly like Thinkature, however it is a bit slow to start. Gliffy is pretty cool as well.
Here is another one:
http://mind42.com/
It allows to im- and export Freemind maps. Very handy function.
Here you will find a new one: http://www.wisemapping.com/.
I hope you guys find it useful.
All of you can try the best one available at : http://www.imindmap.com/buzanpuneindia — try it NOW !!