untangling_the_web

DOClD: 4046925
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Cybergeography, Topology, and
Infrastructure
The Internet has created many new ways of seeing, understanding , and knowing the
world. It has also created, in a sense, a new world unto itself, a world with its own
"geography," which has come to be known as cybergeography: the configuration of
the constituent parts of the Internet. The most original and informative of the
websites devoted to mapping this new landscape used to be Cybergeography,
which contains, among other things, cybermaps of many flavors: topology, census,
conceptual, historical, etc. Some of these maps are very imaginative and some even
display an eerie beauty. However, the site has not been updated since 2004, so it is
becoming an archive instead of a library of new information .
Cybergeography Research
http://www.cybergeography .org/
For a different view of the Internet, check out the Internet Traffic Report. "The
Internet Traffic Report monitors the flow of data around the world. It then displays a
value between zero and 100. Higher values indicate faster and more reliable
connections." The Traffic Report uses "ping" to measure round-trip travel time along
major paths on the Internet. It also measures response time, i.e., how long it takes
for a piece of data to travel from point A to point B and back (round trip). The Traffic
Report also provides data on packet loss, which indicates how reliable the
connection is. All this data is available for major routers around the world and
displayed graphically.
Internet Traffic Report
http://www.internettrafficreporLcom/main.htm
Yet another way of visualizing and thereby understanding the Internet is by looking
at an Internet Exchange (IX) or Network Access Points (NAPs). An IX is where
networks and service providers hand off traffic to each other; they function as "hubs"
for Internet traffic in very much the way certain airports serve as "switching points"
for passengers . And, like airport hubs, they are very crowded, busy places. There
are IXs around the world, though obviously many more in congested areas such as
the US and Europe. In fact, many countries and even some regions do not have
their own IXs, which means they must use exchanges in Europe, Asia, or even the
US to route traffic between countries or even within one country, which leads to
some very interesting routing patterns.
Internet Exchanges all have websites, and each provides a varying amount of data.
The two best free metasites with links to most of the world's IXs are Exchange Point
Information and Colosource:
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