Concept Map Maker
Visualize Concepts and Their Relationships
Graphically organize information and visualize how various concepts are related to each other.
- Customizable concept map templates
- Real-time visual collaboration
- Attach notes, data and comments to concepts
Create Your Concept Map with Editable Templates
How to make a Concept Map?
Brainstorm and Create Complex Concept Maps in Minutes
Visualize ideas and connections with whiteboarding tools.
Quickly add concepts and link them to topics with simple to use drag and drop tools.
Create multiple versions by duplicating the workspace for better analysis.
Develop a Shared Understanding
Organize and structure data easily with multiple concept map templates.
Arrange concepts and connections with color themes and advanced formatting options.
Create informative concept maps by importing images, vectors and more to the canvas.
Rapidly Generate & Structure Ideas
Share complex ideas and organize concepts together on a shared canvas in real-time.
Share, review, and edit concept maps with advanced collaborator settings.
Comment with context, have discussions and follow-ups on the same canvas. Async!
Publish, present, print, or share by exporting as SVGs, PDFs, JPEGs and PNGs.
Share Knowledge and Interact with Your Data
Add docs and reference notes to each node with custom properties and data fields.
Build databases/ wikis to collect and categorize multiple concept maps together.
Split canvas with frames and containers to carry out interactive presentations.
Easily find what you are looking for with the universal, full-text search.
What is a Concept Map?
A concept map is a visual tool that represents how ideas and concepts are related to each other. Concepts or ideas are represented by nodes—usually in circles or boxes and relationships are represented by arrows that connect the ideas together. These arrows are known as cross-links.
A concept map maker or concept map creator helps you to understand concepts in detail. Through a concept map creator like Creately you can easily untangle and visualize complex concepts, inspire new ideas and organize information all in one single canvas.
How to Make a Concept Map with Your Team?
- First, select the right platform
Select the right platform to create a concept map, you need a space where you can easily move ideas around and reorganize concepts. Creately’s concept map maker provides a collaborative workspace that is perfect for creating concept maps in any collective group session.
- Identify the focus question
Invite your team members to discuss and narrow down the focus question, which is the problem your concept map is trying to solve. In the meeting take time to also define the purpose, goals and the target audience of the concept map.
- Identify key concepts
Ask team members to gather relevant information. Work together to identify key concepts and ideas related to the identified focus question of the concept map. Create a ‘parking lot’ of ideas, which is a list of related topics that are ranked from the most specific to the most general concepts.
Share a workspace or common folder to include all the gathered information. Within the workspace, the team can use sticky notes and the notes panel to add information and attach documents, if necessary.
- Create a rough draft
Use a Creately template to plug-and-play immediately or create a concept map from zero. Keep the focus question at the center and the related topics should branch out from it.
Link the concepts together with arrows - make sure to add linking words or phrases to explain how concepts are related. Color-code each parent node for better clarity to easily trace how ideas are related to each other.
- Review, refine and finalize the map
Review the rough draft of the concept map and make any necessary revisions or additions. Use in-line commenting or @mention comments to provide feedback. Once the team is satisfied, finalize and prepare it for wider distribution or presentation.
- Update and maintain
Usually, a concept map is a process and should be updated regularly. Get the team involved to update and review the concept map regularly as new information or insights become available.
Create Your Concept Map with Editable Templates
FAQs About the Concept Map Maker in Creately
There are many types of concept maps. The most popular are:
- Spider maps: used to branch out and build upon a single idea.
- Flowcharts: used to visualize processes easily.
- Hierarchy maps: used to provide a picture from the highest to the lowest point of an organization or concept.
- System maps: used to visualize a system, especially to understand how a team is functioning or a system is working.
Concept maps are a great way to lay out your information in detail to understand the bigger picture. You can branch out and include every minor detail to avoid missing vital information.
Using a concept map creator like Creately, you can get a quick start with the readily available templates or use the extensive shape library to create your own. Many styles, preset colors, and precise formatting options are available to customize your concept map better. If you want to take a print, simply save it as a PDF and take a printout. You can easily share the space with your colleagues to collaborate via an email or a link.
