I suppose there are multitudes of roadmap types depending on the business you are in. However, in the aggregate, there are two and only two super-types of roadmaps.
Roadmap Super-types
Statement of Direction Roadmaps
Roadmaps for Analytical Purposes
The Statement of Direction Roadmap tells the story of "Where is this business headed?". The Statement of Direction Roadmap is made of data input by the roadmap creator. The roadmap creator already knows the answer and has predetermined the roadmap, and is drawing a picture to convey the statement of direction to others. The Statement of Direction Roadmap is commonly simplified for maximum legibility and published in PowerPoint because the Statement of Direction Roadmap tends to be authored for the executive to review and approve and executives deal nearly exclusively in PowerPoint.
The Roadmap for Analytical Purposes can also be thought of as a status roadmap. "What is the status of the project or strategy" is a question you can answer with a Roadmap for Analytical Purposes. Contrary to the Statement of Direction Roadmap where the data is input by the roadmap builder, a Roadmap for Analytical Purposes is made of data extracted from authoritative sources and displayed visually on a standard template or canvas. The Roadmap for Analytical Purposes allows the analyst to review sequencing of business drivers against planned products and services. The roadmap will show if the sequencing works or not.
