How to relate two hierarchies to each other

Nick D. shared this question ago

Discussion Open

A map design question for experienced mappers out there.

I have two separate hierarchies (trees A and B), each of which is designed to minimise duplication - each topic belongs in its place without much ambiguity and each level encapsulates its subtopics.

I need to relate topics in tree A to topics in tree B with many-to-many relationships. A topic in tree A may relate to several in tree B, and vice versa. Ideally, the connection itself would also have a comment or status. Every topic in each tree will connect to one or more topics in the other. We could approximate the number of connections as the sum of the topics in both trees.

What approach(es) would maximise the clarity and usability of the inter-tree connections? If I navigate around tree A, I would like to easily see the status of related topics in tree B and vice versa.

Replies (1)

Ary V.

MindManager Expert

● 2 years ago

Hi Nick,

This will not be easy in MM as it is.

The way to handle many to many relationships in normal database design is always done via 3d normal form design

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_normal_form

You will have to split the tables (hierarchies).

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Nick D.

MindManager Expert

● 2 years ago

Thanks Ary, Yes, this could (or should) be done in a database. But moving to a database leaves behind the benefits of visual context, fast restructuring, collaboration, communication and constructive discussions. These are valuable strengths of visualisation.

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Ary V.

MindManager Expert

● 2 years ago

Hi Nick,

I agree.

Fortunately in MMvs 21 there is still the Database linker.

eeb312f56bd51d800cb7e5ff82910265 ( it is gone in my dutch version of vs MM2022, but maybe still available to you.)

And maybe you could contact Steven Bashford in Alzenau for more details on this.

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Alex G.

MindManager Expert

● 2 years ago

Obviously this is difficult to do at scale in MindManager and as Ary says this is probably best handled in a database. It is possible however to do something like this in smaller maps if you can base the second tree on a floating topic. I wrote an article back in 2015 which doesn't directly address your question but does suggest some ideas which might be relevant: https://sociamind.com/2015/03/02/creating-collapsible-and-expandable-many-to-one-relationships-in-mindmanager-mindmaps/

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Nick D.

MindManager Expert

● 2 years ago

Thanks Alex, I will study your article.

Ary, the Database Linker does not provide any solution here. It imports records from standalone tables but does not deal with relational databases.

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