Editing a map

Edit mode is a canvas for building a map by hand. It works well for workshop-sized maps, and for running a collective braindump where people add what they know together. This page covers the canvas. To describe what a node or connection is, see Nodes and connections.

The editor

Elements, the sidebar on the left, has everything the map is made of, as cards you can collapse: Nodes (placed and unplaced), Connections (connection types and notes), Tags and Measures. Search everything at the top filters all of them by name. Collapse it with the button in its header. Collapsed, it’s a narrow strip labelled Elements, like Details on the right; click it to open it again.
Import / Export, in the top bar in every mode, is covered in Importing and exporting.
The toolbar in the top bar has Add Node, the Arrange menu and Group by (see Group nodes by a tag group). Every change saves automatically: Saving… shows at the top left of the canvas while a change is on its way, then Saved for a moment.
The Details panel on the right shows whatever you’ve selected. It opens when you click something. Close it with its ×, by pressing Esc, or by clicking empty canvas. In a node’s Connections list, Group by puts its connections under headings, biggest group first. Type groups by connection type, with each direction of a directed type apart (“funds” and “funded by”). Node groups by the node at the other end; in Visualise mode each heading has a dot in that node’s map colour. Click the selected chip again for one plain list.
The canvas has zoom controls and a minimap in its corners.
About this map, at the top right of the canvas, describes what’s on the canvas and where the map’s data comes from (see About this map).

Build the map

Add a node: click Add Node, then click the canvas where you want it. Its Name is ready to type in the Details panel.
Connect two nodes: drag from one of a node’s four handles to another node. The new connection is Undefined until you say what it is, and the box to do that opens straight away (see Say what a connection is).
Grow the map from a node: drag from a handle and let go on empty canvas. You get a new node there, joined by an undefined connection.
Rename a node: double-click it on the canvas and type. Enter or clicking away saves; Esc cancels.
Move a node: drag it. Dragging doesn’t select it.

Two nodes can have any number of connections. Each one is drawn as its own curved line so you can click it. A node can’t connect to itself.

Select

Click a node or connection to select it and open it in the Details panel. The canvas zooms to it and its neighbours, and fades everything else.
Shift-drag across the canvas to select several nodes and connections at once.
Cmd-click (Mac) or Ctrl-click (Windows) adds to the selection. In the Placed and Unplaced lists, Shift-click does the same. Unplaced nodes picked together can be tagged or deleted together.

With more than one thing selected, the Details panel shows how many, with Tag the selected nodes, Remove from map (nodes only) and Delete selected.

Tag the selected nodes: choose a tag, then Add or Remove. Every selected node changes at once. A tag from a group replaces the group’s other tag on those nodes, and you’re asked to confirm first.
Delete selected asks you to confirm.

Delete

Select a node and use Delete node at the bottom of its Details panel. It asks you to confirm, then deletes the node and all its connections.
Select a connection and use Remove connection in its Details panel.
Press Backspace to take the selected nodes off the canvas, like Remove from map. They move to Unplaced with their data and connections. A connection selected on its own is deleted, without confirming.

Arrange the canvas

The Arrange menu lays out every node on the canvas at once:

By connections pulls connected nodes together and pushes others apart. Run it again to refine the result.
Even grid lines nodes up on a grid, keeping connected nodes near each other.
Scatter randomly spreads a tangled pile out so you can arrange it by hand.
Snap to grid nudges each node to the nearest grid point.

Group by in the toolbar picks one of the map’s tag groups, or None. It changes how the map looks, not its data.

Each node shows its tag’s icon and colour. Nodes with none of the group’s tags look as usual.
A legend in the bottom-left corner lists the group’s tags, with how many nodes on the canvas have each. Click an entry to hide or show those nodes.
The Placed and Unplaced lists split into a section per tag, plus No … for the rest.
- The eye on a Placed section hides its nodes and their connections on the canvas. They keep their places, and Arrange leaves them where they are.
- The square selects a section’s nodes, ready to tag at once.
- Drag a node onto a section to give it that tag.

Everyone starts from the map’s default grouping. Your own choice, and the sections you’ve hidden, are remembered in your browser. In the Group by menu, Make … the default for everyone sets the map’s default, and Back to the map’s default drops your own choice.

Placed and unplaced nodes

A node can belong to a map without being on the canvas yet. It’s then unplaced. Nodes you add by hand are placed. Imported nodes start unplaced, so a large import doesn’t pile up on the canvas. You can also leave them unplaced and use Visualise mode, which shows every node.

The Nodes card has a Placed list and an Unplaced list, 200 nodes per page. Unplaced starts collapsed; click its heading to open it. The Sort buttons at the top of the card order both lists by Name (A to Z to start) or by Connections (most first). Click the pressed button again to reverse the order; its arrow shows which way it runs. The order isn’t saved.

Open an unplaced node: click it in the list. You can edit it in the Details panel while it’s off the canvas.
Place a node: drag it from the list onto the canvas, or click it and use Place on map, which finds a spot near your other nodes.
Place all places every unplaced node in a grid. It’s turned off when that would put more than 200 nodes on the canvas.
Take a node off the canvas: right-click it, on the canvas or in the Placed list, and choose Remove from map. Its data and connections are kept, and it moves to Unplaced.
Remove all takes every node off the canvas.

A connection can join a placed node to an unplaced one. It’s listed as usual, but isn’t drawn until both ends are placed.

How connections are drawn

Colour shows the connection type. Each type in use gets its own colour, in alphabetical order, which is how the Connections card lists them by default. Notes get colours too. After eight types, colours repeat.
Undefined connections are grey and dashed. Nothing else is dashed.
Directed connections have an arrow part-way along the line. Mutual ones have two.
Hovering over or selecting a connection makes the line slightly thicker.

What each line is labelled with is covered in Measures, tags and connection types.

Undo

There’s no undo yet. Deleting a node or connection can’t be reversed.