TOPIC MAP EXISTING TOOLS : A BRIEF REVIEW by

Topic maps (TM) are a new semantic approach to information organisation and they were designed to enhance navigation and information retrieval in large sets of information resources. The steady increase of interest on behalf of the academic world and the industry to exploit the potentials of TM technology, resulted to a proportional increased need for developing software tools in order to facilitate the creation, editing and management of topic maps. Furthermore, navigation and representation of topic maps and consequently tools to support these functions is also a necessity. In the context of this paper we present a brief review of existing TM tools in order to set the boundaries on what should be included in an efficient TM software application tool, consequently evaluate their shortcomings and accordingly give a few basic directions regarding the level of functionality that such a tool would be expected to