BiggerPlate.com, the leading mind map gallery for MindManager mind maps, recently expanded its library to include maps created in iMindMap. Founder Liam Hughes decided to make this move after attending a ThinkBuzan event earlier this year in Dubai, where he was really turned on by the energy and enthusiasm of the people he met from this organization, and their passion for growing the use of mind mapping worldwide. He was also quite impressed with iMindMap 5, which is a major upgrade that has transformed it into a serious business tool (read my review of it here).
BiggerPlate.com’s newly expanded scope follows a relaunch of the site several months ago, which brings a slick new interface and some new capabilities to this excellent site, including:
- Bulk uploads (upload up to 10 maps at a time)
- Support for hypertext links in mind maps
- Improved control over how others view and use your maps
- Mini-profiles for BiggerPlate users and map authors
- An integrated MindManager map viewer
- No limit on the size of mind maps uploaded to BiggerPlate.com
What’s significant about this expansion
Why is this expansion of BiggerPlate.com significant? Because Liam has established it as the go-to website for business-oriented mind maps. There are other mind map galleries on the web, but they are either owned by mind mapping software developers or haven’t innovated and expanded in recent years (think Mappio.com). BiggerPlate.com is an independent publisher, and more importantly, one who is committed to providing a great experience for users of mind mapping software.
To give you an idea of the types of business maps you can download from BiggerPlate.com, here is a partial list of the top 10 downloaded mind maps from the site:
- A personal organizer template
- Managing projects (based on the project management body of knowledge – PMBOK)
- SWOT analysis (strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats)
- A business plan template
- Several mind maps that help you to implement David Allen’s popular Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology
That’s just scratching the surface. There are over 1,000 mind maps in this gallery, nearly organized by topic. There is much to explore here!
Why use BiggerPlate.com?
Why use a website like BiggerPlate.com? If you’re a user of MindManager or iMindMap, it’s a nearly ideal place to download mind map templates that you can use as starting points for your projects, saving you hours of time. As Liam points out in his blog, that a file downloaded from BiggerPlate.com is “not a static and unchangeable image of a mind map, but is a dynamic, entirely adaptable mind map file that they can do what they like with.”
In addition, the mind maps in this excellent library can inspire you, especially if you’re fairly new to the world of mind mapping, and trying to figure out how you can apply it to your work and life. I’m still finding new applications for mind mapping software, based on the maps I’m seeing on BiggerPlate.com.
If you haven’t visited this website yet, I highly recommend that you do so. And keep an eye on Liam. I have a feeling that, with his new web platform, he may have further expansion plans in mind – to support mind maps created in other mind mapping programs.
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