Philoctopus has been developed as a Java-Applet plug-in. The backbone of the system is based in the open-source tool TG-Link developed by TouchGraph LLC.

This project started as part of the Archelogos project establised by the philosophy department of Ednburgh University. It has beend designed and developed by Dr.Dimitri Halvatzara (Software Enineer) under the supervision of Dr. Stasino Stavriena (Philosopher) and Professor Dory Scaltsa (Philosopher).

The scope of this project is to develope a tool that with simple means (such as a word processor or an XML editor) to make posible the construction of concept or argument maps.

An enhanced version of the tool can represent the xml files not only as a concept map but also as an html text. This aproach enhances the usuability since many users favoure propositional information more than visual. The enhanced version is based in servlet technology.