  The basic classification techniques for organizing information are thesauri,
taxonomy and faceted classification. Topic map is relatively a new entrant to
this information space. Topic map standard describes how complex relationships
between abstract concepts and real world resources can be represented using XML
syntax. This paper explores how topic map incorporates the traditional
techniques and what are its advantages and disadvantages in several dimensions
such as content management, indexing, knowledge representation, constraint
specification and query languages in the context of information retrieval. The
constructs of topic maps are illustrated with a use-case implemented in XTM
