Mind mapping is a way of taking notes, capturing ideas, exploring concepts and breaking down information into a more readily understood format. There are a million and one uses for mind mapping. You can use it to:

• Study for a big exam
• Brainstorm new article ideas
• Flesh out what needs to be covered in the business plan for a new venture
• Organize a big move

Here are some free mind mapping applications and web services.

Freemind is one of the most popular free mind mapping applications out there, mainly because it’s in Java and thus cross-platform.

bubble.us is a free web-based mind mapping application. You can sign up for an account in order to save your mind maps, but they don’t force you to get an account to start creating.

Semantik is a KDE Linux application for creating mind maps, though they can be viewed in different formats, such as a linear tree view with retractable and expandable branches.

MindMeister is another web app with varying account options; there’s a free account, and several commercial options.

RecallPlus is commercial software with a lighter free edition. It combines the process of mind mapping with flash card memorization techniques, and is aimed at students who wish to take notes and then test themselves using them.

Mindomo is another mind mapping web app with both a free account option and a commercial one. It allows you to share your mind maps with others, and also embed them into your web pages.

Mind42 is a totally free mind mapping web app. The interface is a good one, and it has some excellent features such as easy navigation for large mind maps with zoom and birdview. You can also link branches to other sites and see a preview when you rollover the link.

Labyrinth is a very simple and basic mind mapping application for Linux and Windows.

Vym (View Your Mind) is an application for Mac OS X and various Linux distributions.

WiseMapping is another web app for mind mapping which requires no browser plug-ins at all, which is fantastic when you don’t know which computers you’ll be using in a given day. There is no commercial account option; everything is free and unlimited.

PersonalBrain is a cross-platform application. It’s a commercial application, but a lighter free edition is on offer.