DITA maps

Maps organize topics for output to a specific deliverable, including generating navigation files and links to related topics.

1. What are maps? DITA maps are documents that collect and organize references to DITA topics to indicate the relationships among the topics. They can also serve as outlines or tables of contents for DITA deliverables and as build manifests for DITA projects.
2. Why DITA maps? Maps allow scalable reuse of content across multiple contexts. They can be used by information architects, writers, and publishers to plan, develop, and deliver content.
3. Common DITA map attributes and metadata DITA maps have many of the same common attributes as DITA content, but also have some additional ones for controlling the way relationships are interpreted for different output purposes.The collection-type and linking attributes affect how related links are generated for topics described in the map. There are standard attributes available for identifying output-media-specific content and for rechunking topics.DITA maps use the same metadata and reuse attributes that DITA topics use.
4. DITA map structure Maps organize topics into hierarchies, tables, and groups, and have special elements for referencing other maps.
5. DITA map modules Maps have the same module structure as topics, and share some of the same modules for defining metadata.
6. Inheritance of attributes and metadata in maps Some of the attributes and metadata in a map can be inherited based on the structures in the map.
7. Bookmap The bookmap specialization of DITA's standard DITA map allows you to organize your DITA topics into a collection that can be printed as a book or other paged layout.

The OASIS bookmap application of DITA allows you to produce your DITA topics and even whole DITA maps as the content of a formally defined book. This allows you to produce not only maps for online deliverables, but also PDFs with the same content, replete with covers, formal notices and frontmatter, and so forth.

A bookmap is a special kind of DITA map that defines the major structures and setup information for producing maps of information as a book.

Bookmeta is a specialization of the topicmeta element in a DITA map. It has specialized content for holding information about a particular book represented by the bookmap.

A booklist is a specialized topicref that indicates a collection of information from the content of a book. Sets of <booklist> elements (or elements derived from booklist) are contained in the <booklists> element.Front matter of a book typically contains prefaces, instructions, or other introductory material prior to the actual content of a book.

Back matter of a book typically contains closing information that follows the main content of a book.

As a specialization of DITA map, the DITA bookmap will be supported by default like a typical DITA map in DITA-aware editors and processing tools.

1. Map domains The following domains provide expanded functionality for map document types that incorporate them.

TOC: Architectural Specification 1.1
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