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How many hours have you used the Internet today or in an average week? Do you even remember the first time you surfed the Interweb? It wasn’t that long ago when some of us didn’t even know what the Internet was. Now you can’t do much of anything today without touching it. And yet, if you stopped to ask people what does the Internet physically look like, most would be perplexed by the very thought. So, we decided to lift the fog by creating a Map of the Internet based on Internet topology data from the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA).
Launch Interactive Map of the Internet (zoom in and out)
Methodology
Non-Geek Version – The Map of the Internet is a visual representation of all the networks around the world that are interconnected to form the Internet as we know it today. These include small and large Internet service providers (ISPs), Internet exchange points, university networks, and organization networks such as Facebook and Google. The size of the nodes and the thickness of the lines speak to the size of those particular providers and the network connections in relation to one another.
Geek Version – You’re looking at all the autonomous systems that make up the Internet. Each autonomous system is a network operated by a single organization, and has routing connections to some number of neighboring autonomous systems. The image depicts a graph of 19,869 autonomous system nodes, joined by 44,344 connections. The sizing and layout of the autonomous systems are based on their eigenvector centrality, which is a measure of how central to the network each autonomous system is: an autonomous system is central if it is connected to other autonomous systems that are central. This is the same graph-theoretical concept that forms the basis of Google’s PageRank algorithm.
The Map of the Internet image layout begins with the most central nodes and proceeds to the least, positioning them on a grid that subdivides after each order of magnitude of centrality. Within the constraints of the current subdivision level, nodes are placed as near as possible to previously-placed nodes that they are connected to.
Is PEER 1 Hosting on the Map?
You bet. PEER 1 Hosting’s internally managed network is on the Map of The Internet, grid positon N10.
How Can I Get a Map of the Internet Poster?
We will be handing out 24″ x 36″ limited edition posters of the map at the ServerBeach/PEER 1 Hosting booth #409-411 at South By Southwest (SXSW) March 14 to 17th.
Free Map of The Internet Downloads
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I’m trying to figure out how all those points fit in that little box… http://youtu.be/iDbyYGrswtg
I’m a fan of the show
I’m a BIGGER fan of ServerBeach/PEER 1 and one of the thousands of startup customers you have. Keep up the great work and the great service!
(ironically didnt you guys host youtube back in the day, too)
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Does it wrap?
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Serra Boten Reply:
September 6th, 2011 at 9:50 am
Hi Mike,
wrap? Not sure what you mean…
Serra
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882turk Reply:
October 14th, 2011 at 4:54 am
Assumes a sphere in shape where outer edges “wrap” around to touch opposite side of image: i.e., global map of earth on 2d topology.
Answer (I’m guessing) is no… Since all connections meet regardless if the image is spherical or flat. As long as a point exists that point can be reached through any other given point(s) through existing gateways created by the point itself.
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it would be nice if we had some country names on the dots.
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Serra Boten Reply:
November 25th, 2011 at 9:56 am
Hi Themhz,
Each of the dots represents a different AS number, not a location. So technically each dot could represent hosts spanning multiple countries, as it’s all dependant on how that particular network is designed.
For example, PEER 1′s dot represents all of the locations we have presence in, which is Canada, US, UK and the Netherlands, because all of the traffic originating from our network is sourced from our AS number. Make sense?
I know it’s a bit weird to get your head around at first — If you’d like a poster sized copy of the map, send your mailing address to me (sboten at peer1 dot com) and I’ll send one to you!
Cheers,
Serra
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Hello. Is there any chance that I might get raw data about connections? I am trying to find out how hard could it be for government to sever the country from the Internet.
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Serra Boten Reply:
December 8th, 2011 at 11:18 am
HI Greg,
I’m not sure I have the data you’re looking for, but out of curiosity, what country are you in?
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