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Movement Mapping Tool

Core concepts

A few terms recur throughout the tool.

  • Node — a real-world entity: an organisation, a person, or a concept. A node can appear on more than one map within your organisation. Its properties and fields describe the entity itself, so they are shared wherever it appears.
  • Connection (edge) — a typed observation about a pair of nodes on a map. A connection is either a note (a freeform reason — “why are these connected?”) or a value (a Field and that field’s value), or both. A connection with neither still needs defining. Direction (undirected, one-way, or two-way) comes from the assigned field, not something you set per connection — see below. Any number of connections can exist between the same pair — there’s no single “strength” to set. A connection belongs to a single map.
  • Field — a named, typed value (numeric or boolean) attached to a node or a connection. Node fields power the visualisations (e.g. sizing or colouring nodes); connection fields are what a connection observes as a value (e.g. “shares a board member”, “same city”). A connection field also carries a direction (undirected, directed, or mutual) so every connection using it reads the same way — e.g. “Acme Corp funds Campaign X” always points from funder to recipient, wherever that field is used. Free-text observations aren’t Fields — use a connection’s Reason, or a node property, instead. A boolean field only ever records “true” — an explicit false carries no more information than the field simply not being there, so you add or remove the field rather than toggle it. This applies whether you set it by hand or bring it in via CSV/GraphML import.
  • Capability — a kind of field (those in the “capability” category). Some fields are system-defined to allow comparison across the movement; others are defined by your organisation.
  • Map — a single network: a set of placed nodes and the connections between them, owned by your organisation.
  • Saved view — a snapshot of how you were looking at a map (viewport and visualisation settings), so you can return to it later.
  • Revision — a saved point in a map’s history. Each editing session collapses into a revision when it ends, which you can restore.