Maps Room

Any time you activate an NE you can see the other NEs it is linked to. Linked NEs appear in the two contribution wings and in the affinity area. However, the links that appear in these areas run only one level deep. That is, you can see the NEs to which the active NE contributes directly, and those which are direct contributors to it, but you cannot see the contribution relations which lie farther afield. The immediate context for information is always at hand, but association areas do not capture the full range of impact of and influences on the NE.

However, this broader context is easily accessed in the Maps room. In this room relations between NEs can be tracked far beyond one level. The relations the NE stands in are presented here visually, as a map. Maps provide a rich context for your knowledge. You see not only the direct contribution relations for an NE, but also those NEs that stand in an indirect relation to the active NE, via some third or fourth NE, and can trace the impact path between any two NEs. The Maps room presents each NE as the center of a broad contextual map of knowledge relations.

On the map above, the column of NEs immediately to either side of the active NE would be visible in any room, in the contribution wings of the active NE. However, those standing in the second column to the right (related to the active NE via a first-column NE) would not be visible. In Maps it is possible to view many levels of indirect information relations.

This "broad contextual map"doesn't have to be built in the Maps room. The DNE builds it automatically - all you do is create the direct links between NEs using the contribution wings and affinity area. The DNE takes these individual links and strings them all together to produce the larger picture.

You can create whatever maps you want. You can map the relations that actually hold between your knowledge to create a powerful information repository. You can also map how your knowledge is going to be used, building business and research models that have direct links to all the information they require.

Maps displayed in Maps are always presented context-sensitively. That is, all the impact relations presented involve the active NE in some way. Every NE that turns up on the map is related to the active NE.

Maps built in the DNE can be viewed in DNE Maps, the free map reader, so it is easy to share any map you build with friends and family, colleagues, or the world.

In Maps, the graphic NE's contribution wings are nearly invisible, because the extended contribution or map relations spread across the whole room. However, although the wings are visible only as reflections, they do exist and function in the normal way. NEs can be dragged into either contribution wing to add a new relation with an existing NE, or the new/rename ball can be dragged into either contribution wing to create a new NE with that relation to the active NE.

When displaying a map or model in the Maps room it is possible to display either the entire set of contribution relations in which an NE stands, or to display only the published NE and to leave the unpublished NEs hidden. This is controlled on the model control on the right side of the bench, displayed here.