Map your mind 2.0

This is an app that gives great demo. It looks great and it's got a lot of capability, but I found if you're using it to capture your own ideas, or maybe map out the ideas that pop up in a meeting, the interface slows you down, at least at first. On the other hand, if you want to annotate a map with notes, links, and pictures, and you have the time and gumption to create the map in the first place, Spinscape will handle it. It also does some useful automatic lookup in Wikipedia and other sources to fill out nodes if you're gathering data and ideas on a topic.

If in your mind's eye your ideas and plans look like molecular models, Spinscape might work for you. But if they look like outlines or Gantt charts, steer clear. (We have invite codes for the Spinscape private beta; read to the end of the story.)

Spinscape intrigued me, since I've never used a Web-based tool like it. A quick bit of research on the Web and Twitter, and a timely press release, yielded four interesting competitors to this app. Despite the fact that they share a design point -- creating graphical representations of networks of ideas -- they have very different capabilities.

MeadMap is a mind mapper designed for students, and probably the best of these apps for people who think in outlines. It creates networks left-to-right, not from the center out (in Rafe terminology, the sun-and-planets view). It's fast and easy to use. It also allows real-time collaboration and supports live chat with collaborators, which is very useful. Downside is a limited feature set: You can't import pictures, for example.

Mindomo is the mind mapper for Microsoft Office junkies. Its interface mirrors Office 2007's look and feel, and it has a crazy number of little options you'll never use (just like Office). It also lets you change the overall layout of your map; it doesn't force you to use the sun-and-planet view.