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Systems Mapping Docs

The Map

Edit nodes, draw relationships, connect broader influences, and use saved Undo and Redo.

Nodes and Connections

A node represents a person, setting, resource, institution, or broader condition. A connection describes how the people, settings, or conditions on your map relate. Select a node or connection to open its details in the sidebar. Read the evidence before changing its wording or classification.

Edit a Node

In a node’s details, you can edit Label to rename it, then choose Save or Cancel. System and Type let you correct its classification. Choose Save classification to apply that change. Interpretation asks where it connects and what is still uncertain. Choose Save note after writing, and check the save status.

Color can be Automatic or one of the named colors. It changes the node's appearance independently of its classification. Use Position on map or drag the node to change its location. Done closes the details.

Create a Connection

After submitting the current part's memo, select a source node and choose Connect from, then select the destination. Double-clicking a node also starts a connection. Write the relationship, choose its direction, and save it. The map uses your wording for the connection.

You can also start from a node and select empty canvas to draft a new connected node. Enter both the new node's label and the relationship before saving. Cancelling discards the unfinished node and connection together. With a node focused, Shift+Enter starts a connection, and N can open a new connected-node draft.

Broader Connections

At Exo, select an outside setting and choose Connect from. Under Local relationships, select the relationships it affects, then name the connection, choose its direction, and save. At Macro, you can use Connect to local relationships to select a group, or choose a destination node. This lets you show, for example, how a funding rule shapes several local interactions. Review the selected relationships when revising the map.

The Teaching and Learning Center connected to the local relationship Lab staff run workshops for faculty, with Connect to local relationships selected
The sample project connects an outside office to a local relationship. Placement and wording are choices made for this example. Select the image to view it at full size.

Remove and Restore

Remove takes a node off the map. Use Tools → Show removed items to find a removed node, then select it and choose Add to map to restore it. Resubmitting a memo preserves your removal decision. Select a node or a connection label, then press Delete or Backspace to remove it. Removing a node also removes its connections. You can undo that edit with Command+Z on Mac or Ctrl+Z on Windows.

The Map key opened from Tools, with keyboard shortcuts for removing, undoing, finding, zooming, panning, and connecting
Open Tools → Map key, or press ? with the canvas selected, to see the keyboard shortcuts.

Map Tools

Use Tools → Find a node to search names, or List to inspect the map in a table. Map key explains system regions and line patterns. Fit map changes the view, and Arrange map adjusts the layout. With Auto-fit layout off, the map uses your saved positions.

Undo and Redo at the top of the sidebar restore saved project edits, including wording and memo updates. Back returns to a previous view while retaining your edits.