A map describes the relationships among a set of DITA topics. The following
are some examples of relationships that can be described in a map:
- Hierarchical (Parent/Child). Nested topics create a hierarchical relationship.
The topic that does the nesting is the parent, and the topics that are nested
are the children.
- Ordered. Child topics can be labeled as having an ordered relationship,
which means they are referenced in a definite sequence.
- Family. Child topics can be labeled as having a family relationship, which
means they all refer to each other.
The relationships defined in a map can be used to create a Table of Contents
(TOC), aggregate topics into a PDF document, or to create links between topics
in output.