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There is a mind-mapping tool called Freemind, which is written in Java. I use it on daily basis and it's incredibly useful. From what I have seen so far, it is the most advanced open-source mind-mapping software, so it would be great to integrate this with KDE4.

This could start simple, for instance by supporting drag&drop for files and maybe links to applications. This idea is far from elaborate, but I could imagine a high potential for synergies between Freemind and Nepomuk!

Generally, I think it's a good idea to build upon existing tools, and reuse components, where reasonable, rather than duplicating effort.

Here's some additional info on the matter:

Some Screenshots of Freemind

Nepomuk

Nepomuk KDE Integration


Notice, how mind-mapping is explicitly mentioned as one of Nepomuks objectives on their website.

Why not use a KDE4 native app first?

Like Semantik for example.

Afaik the file format of freemind is XML...

Why and how should Nepomuk and any kind of mind mapping software work together? They have noting in common other than representing relations. Nepomuk indexes your data and lets you tag it in order for you to then be able to pull information together in an ad-hoc manner. Mind mapping, however, is about you organizing ideas in a static way. I don't see the relationship...

The idea of Nepomuk is to move away from the file-system hierarchy based Desktop experience towards a "Semantic Desktop".

A mindmap is a perfect tool to organize a semantic project-centric workspace - for instance you could have links to applications, bookmarks, contacts, emails (for instance the belonging to a certain sender or newsgroup), notes, links to calendars and so forth organized in a mindmap and therefore readily accessible. A first step would now be enabling such links from a program like freemind to the entities that I just enumerated.

In summary: A powerful mind-mapping tool could be nothing less than the browser of the semantic desktop if done right.

It should be Free Software which can be easily integrated into KDE.

The User wrote:It should be Free Software which can be easily integrated into KDE.

True. The questions is, whether it would be more effort to hack up a state-of-the-art KDE mind-mapping tool or to somehow encapsulate the main components of freemind.

To be honest, I don't know how well Java integrates to KDE, considering Jambi is about to kick the bucket. I would guess it's not that hard, considering Plasma (for one) interfaces with a zoo of languages, but ultimately I don't know.

I am in agreement with the general idea. It follows the model/view framework that the same data sets can be represented in a number of ways. Mind mapping, whilst it does have its drawbacks, is a useful choice available for managing data, knowledge, etc.

However, Freemind is Java and whilst I use it daily (no other viable alternative) I find it has many shortcomings, such as, many too may useless formatting options.

Flo, a QT based application written by a KDE dev ( I think) looked promising to me and could be a good starting point for a KDE mind mapping program that could be interfaced with other KDE apps.

http://trac.geiseri.com/wiki/FloMain

In fact I have been looking at using mind mapping as a way to better add PIM tasks in Kontact, particular for projects with multiple sub tasks. As Kontact is now being Akondiized, database enabled Mind Mapping has endless possibilities.

I therefore propose a change of title to:
Develop a QT/KDE based mind mapping application & integrate with other KDE applications.