COMAPPING INTRODUCES COLLABORATIVE ONLINE MINDMAPPING TOOL

Using Comapping, Teleconferences and On-Site Meetings Promote and Capture Collective Brainstorms, Organize Tasks and Content by Graphically Sharing “Mind Space” on the Web

CES, Las Vegas–Jan. 8, 2009—In a joint effort between cognitive scientists in Copenhagen and computer scientists in St. Petersburg, Russia, a new remote collaboration tool is being unveiled to the general American public at CES. Comapping, an online tool offered by a company of the same name, extends and shares individuals’ ideas across a group, using the Internet and a browser-based interface that calls to mind the neural pathways of the brain. 

Core News Facts:

• Comapping combines mind-mapping with real-time remote collaboration, along with a host of organization, display, presentation and project management tools.
• The tool dynamically expands and collapses sections of interest on the screen in real time, preventing the delays that can frustrate the capture of ideas, and enabling people to organize and retrieve their thoughts visually and graphically.
• Comapping’s applications are especially exciting for on-site or geographically dispersed creative teams—in business, academia, government and healthcare—that need to propel and capture their brainstorms. 
• Comapping’s breakthrough interface is based on years of GUI research in medical education settings.

What is Mind Mapping?
Mind mapping is a solo or group effort in which people note one idea or task, and using text and lines, free-associate their way to other ideas, plans, inspirations, possible solutions, materials and tasks. 

By showing the associations between thoughts, a mind map not only visually represents a mental process better, it stimulates it.

How Comapping is used:

• Comapping helps team members focus and also capture content by letting multiple concurrent users type and click their way into a growing horizontal tree of topic and subtopic text boxes, growing branches and sub-branches from left to right. 
• Comapping maps are also easily navigated repositories for documents, spreadsheets, images, videos, and links.

Sample Comapping Features:

• Smart viewpoint focus. The map automatically zooms in and out as you move around it, making it easy to add “branches” to the Comapping tree without scrolling.
• Completely web-based. With nothing to download, a PIN and password gets you on the map, from any Internet-connected Mac or PC, anywhere.
• Instant updates. All map contributions are updated instantly across the Internet.
• Real-time collaboration. As many as 20 users can simultaneously brainstorm through Comapping’s share, publish and chat features.
• Left-to-right mind mapping. To improve readability and ease of use, Comapping emulates the way you naturally process content.
• Share-and-Collaborate tool. You can easily share maps with other users, with edit- or view-only access.  You can also share maps via e-mail, and publish them to the Web.
• Smart and seamless offline use. You can use Comapping even without an Internet connection.
• Microsoft Word compatibility. You can export Comapping content to .rtf files, to facilitate creating presentations and sharing with remote users.
• Search tools. Comapping maps can be searched on word strings and are also tagged with the contributor’s ID.
• Presentation facility. You can lead an on-site or remote audience through a sequence of topics and branches in a slide-type presentation.
• Drag-and-drop and undo/redo functions. Intuitive and familiar user interface commands allow you to navigate maps quickly and efficiently.
• Project management. You can assign tasks, establish deadlines and measure progress through a Comapping map.
• Secure documents. Maps are stored securely and user privacy is assured.
• Embedded one-to-one or one-to-all chat. You can click on the name of a person rooting around in the map and send him a chat message, within the program. Or chat to all those with access to the map.

Sample Uses:

• Meeting agenda/note taking. A Comapping map with first-level branches can serve as a top-to-bottom meeting agenda, growing thoughts, agreements, decisions and task assignments as the meeting progresses. Meeting attendees in London, for example, can see (and add or edit) notes being entered live by attendees in New York.

• Brainstorming sessions. Employees in roles that require out-of-the-box thinking can use Comapping to collaborate with peers, customers, and business partners, and free-associate their way to successful strategies and solutions. They can craft proposals while pulling together information from all corners of the organization.
• Any decision-making, planning, or group process. Comapping takes the chaos and confusion out of planning family vacations, prioritizing home projects, and making major life decisions, such as relocating, buying a home, or preparing for retirement.  It’s also a very efficient way to file digital media for easy and shared retrieval.
• Information-sharing.  Share a Comap with your local sports club members to consider different uniforms, share play strategies, plan and mark attendance for the next sporting event.

• Academics. For students, professors and researchers alike, Comapping is a powerful and collective tool for taking notes in class, organizing research, preparing for exams, and organizing and sharing complex research. Comapping maps can also be delivered and shared as presentations

About Comapping:
Comapping was born in the summer of 2006 through a joint venture between Area9, a Copenhagen-based developer of computer simulation and intelligent learning solutions for healthcare, and Lanit-Tercom, a software development firm based in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Executive Quote:
“While Comapping is not first to the mind-mapping party, we have been able to stand out in several critical ways, owing to our deep dual roots in cognitive science and online program development. These distinctions include radical ease-of-use; real-time, multi-user access; and depth of features. Functionally, we integrate brainstorming with note taking, project management, presentation, content sharing, chat, notification, and export – and further integrations are under way.” Ulrik Juul Christensen, MD, CEO of Area9 and Chairman of Comapping.com

Management Team: Comapping’s management team is spread among main offices in Copenhagen and St. Petersburg, Russia.

Multimedia elements: A sample Comapping map created by a trade journalist to organize a feature assignment.

Links to related content: http://www.comapping.com/images/comapping-corporate-brochure.pdf

Contacts:
Sue Huss, for Comapping
sue.huss@comunicano.com
+1 619-379-4396

Comapping
Blågårdsstræde 8F
4000 Roskilde
Denmark
+45 33 11 00 90
info@comapping.com