Release 1.0.0

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WOW Features

  • Clones: nodes and its sub-nodes can be cloned. The two copies will then be synchronized
  • Collaboration: two or more people can work simultaneously on the same map
  • Restore complete session
  • Location based mindmapping
  • Spell checking on input

Clones

  • Copy a node via Edit -> Copy
  • Paste a clone of this node (and its children) via Edit -> Paste as Clone
  • Both source and destination nodes get a (CLONE) symbol (you can disable this in the file freemind.properties).
  • Every change to the source or the destination node will be synchronized on the other one.
  • This works after saving and loading later on, too.
  • It is possible to have clones inside of other clones.
  • It is impossible to move a clone into another clone of the same node.
  • To disable a clone, move to the source node and choose "Clone node" again (The UI must be tweaked, IMHO)

Collaboration

  • You can share a map in your network.
  • To do this, you need to specify a port and a password. Then you are the master.
  • Others that reach your master-host and the port can connect with the password.
  • They will get exactly the same map as a local copy.
  • Each change from any participants is distributed among all participants.
  • To end the collaboration, just choose "Share map" again. Then, some seconds later, all clients see, that the collaboration has ended.
  • The title of the window shows the hostname, port and the participants of the collaboration.
  • Observe, that there is little security around. Only the password is present, but the communication is in plain.

Restore session

  • FreeMind loads each map opened in the last session,
  • restores the zoom and
  • the last selected nodes.
  • This feature can be switched off in the preferences.

Location Based Mind Mapping

Now, you can associate nodes of a mindmap with geographical locations. Each node can have at most one location.

This is in particular useful, if you search for something with a location. For example, if you are looking for a house to buy or for the right school for your children, you might want to see their places in a geographical map while associating information to the places at the same time.

There is a screen cast from the author available!

With the integrated map viewer using maps from openstreetmaps you can visualize them inside of FreeMind (in the "Tools" menu under "Show Map" or Ctrl+Alt+M). as shown here:

Lcm html m6d9d951f.png

To add a node with a location, just open the map viewer (e.g. using Ctrl+Alt+M), search for it (using the geographical find Ctrl+F) and double click the location. At this location, the usual node edit window appears to enter its description. Finally, a new child with this location has been created.

Lcm html 6df318e8.png

After having found the location, set the cursor per double click:

Lcm html m45ee80f9.png

Now, the position, the map center, the zoom factor and the map source (the map provider, e.g. Mapnik) are stored. Moreover, a tooltip image is created and stored in the same directory as the map itself.

Lcm html 2de0b439.png

The positions of folded nodes are not displayed in the map viewer. Thus, the mind map structure is represented in the geographical map as well.

To change a node's position, just drag&drop it.

The node's context menu contains more actions. Each can be applied to multiple selected nodes as well.

Lcm html 511a9a7c.png

More location-based features:

  • You can add a little map to the node.
  • You can jump to a node (restoring its position, zoom, etc.).
  • You can remove its geographical position.
  • You can export the map view as an image.
  • In the viewer, you can use the mouse wheel to zoom, cursor to move and Shift + cursor to move page wise.
  • You can set a home position and use the "Pos1" key to navigate to it immediately.
  • You can select nodes and if you press shift with the right click, you can select rectangular areas as well.
  • You can search for places locally. This means, that the search takes only visible points into account. Try Control-L to activate the local search.

Open Source Success Story: Points of Interest

Using the point of interest (POI) data from Osmand it is possible to create maps like the ones here. Just unzip and open with FreeMind. You'll get two folding levels of types for POI.

NewYork.png

Thus, it is possible to see all schools of New York on the integrated FreeMind-OSM map as shown in this screen shot:

NewYorkSchools.png

Observe, that these mind maps are (c) OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA. Moreover, these mind maps are very big, so be patient with FreeMind opening folded nodes. Eventually, you have to increase the memory limit of the application.

To create such maps, do the following:

 * Use the point of interest (POI) data from here and 
 * the converter from here.
 * You'll get maps with two folding levels of types for POI.

Other features

Moreover it contains a feature from Eclipse:

  • Jump to the last edit locations (control-q):
    • If you press Control-Q, you'll get to the node ultimately changed.
    • Pressing Control-Q again moves to the last but second and so on.
    • Ten places are stored.
  • Headless export of maps to graphics
  • QuickLook Plugin for Mac: Drop (FreeMind to the applications folder and) the FreemindQL.qlgenerator into the QuickLook folder.
Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination
  • Now, open FreeMind and close it again
  • Wait some time, or run 'qlmanage -r' on the command line
  • After that, select a mindmap in the finder and press the SPACE bar. You get a picture of this map without opening FreeMind itself:
Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination