There is a clear need for a software package to facilitate this process. This could take the form of a non-hierarchical form of the standard outline package to manage chapter headings of a report, in which the graphic element is emphasized. There are some resemblances to project scheduling software except that here the emphasis is on relating concepts. The conventional approach to databases, and to the reference books produced from them, is to focus on individual entries. The user is not assisted in understanding the relationships between entries, other than by fairly crude grouping of entries into categories.
Users can move from entry to entry without going via an index.
In database terms this is a major step towards what is being called hypertext. Both publications are maintained on a computer network and the possibility of CD-ROM versions is being investigated. Such maps provide a sense of context which is lost in many hierarchical presentations of data in linear text form. It is only from such maps that users can quickly obtain an adequate overview of data in an unfamiliar area to guide their efficient use of conventional information tools. Such maps are of value precisely because they are richer than simple hierarchically structured thesauri.