Search engines work well for users who know exactly what they are looking for. But for users with only a vague sense of what they are after, a different type of retrieval tool is needed. Thinkmap interfaces support users who are unsure of what they want to find, or of what is available.

Thinkmap interfaces are useful for communicating a dataset's structure. Thinkmap displays can present a data object in its full relational context, so that users can appreciate not only that two objects are related, but exactly how. Properties of the interface can be mapped to quantitative properties of the data, enabling, for example, the ability to visually represent how closely two objects are related.

Thinkmap is fully dynamic, and is capable of showing changes in underlying data in near real-time. Thinkmap interfaces can be used to submit queries; retrieve and display result sets; and present users with options for continuing to query the underlying data.

Any entity within a Thinkmap interface can link to content — text, multimedia, documents, or Web pages — that provides more detail about the entity. In other words, a Thinkmap interface can be designed to display micro and macro views of a data set, side-by-side. This feature also makes Thinkmap a valuable tool for letting users intuitively browse through large amounts of interrelated content, increasing the chances that they will find something they did not know they were looking for.

The Thinkmap Software Developers Kit (SDK) is a well-structured collection of code libraries, examples, and documentation that makes it simple for developers to quickly create their own Thinkmap applications. The power and flexibility of Thinkmap is accessed through a series of a combination of an XML Configuration language (for describing data connections), and a well designed and easy-to-use JavaScript framework. Through adapting Thinkmap examples, a developer can quickly customize Thinkmap for the business need at hand. Our customers typically have their first Thinkmap built well within a week.

Thinkmap is designed to be extendable and to allow developers to implement customized solutions. We provide customers with plug-and-play connectors to JDBC databases, XML, and flat files, along with an API for integrating Thinkmap with non-standardized data sources and proprietary software.

Thinkmap can be deployed as a client only application, 3-tier Web-based client-server application, an n-tier application, or a standalone application. Thinkmap's "thin" client provides powerful real-time visualization using HTML5 in a web browser (no plug-ins required), and the technology can integrate into existing applications as a component.

Thinkmap is standards-based, and works well within most application server environments. The technology has been deployed as a front-end to a variety of enterprise systems, including document management systems, customer relationship management systems, configuration management databases, digital asset management systems, and automatic classification engines.