'Well-designed maps are effective sources of communication because they exploit the minds ability to see relationships in physical structures, providing a clear understanding of a complex environment, reducing search time and revealing spatial relations that may otherwise not be noticed' (Kitchin and Tate 1999)

- Earlier forms of geographic mapping were based on the results of Cyberspace 'census-takers' who were trying to satisfy the demand for hard data on the geography of the Internet.

- This data generally measured the Internet in relation to the real-world geography, using countries, regions and cities as convenient units.

- Statistic based mapping was most common - for example:

Internet connectivity maps 1991 - 1997

- At the same time, topological mapping became an effective tool for displaying networks. Its primary concern is not to render areas or subject categories, but to focus on connectivity - on whether locations (nodes) have been linked or not.

- The following are topological maps of ARPANET and show its early evolution:

December 1969:

October 1980:

- Nowadays, importance of the distance factor is decreasing due to development of telecommunications and of the Internet as an information dissemination support.

- As a result, it is now relations that have become increasingly important for understanding network structures.

- In schematic maps (such as tube/rail maps, travel tour maps) real location and metric distance become secondary to topological relationships

- The following image uses the scheme/metaphor of a tube map to display a European broadband network:

- Similarly, as Internet space can be qualified as a mathematical network with unit distance, it is not metric distance which is relevant here, but links and structures. So, it is important to map relative locations and distributions, rather than absolute:


- Another example of this could be with the mapping of traffic volumes and flows, and measures for connectivity and integration: Comparable to solving traffic congestion in the real world, traffic volume maps could help speed up Internet traffic (this is also know as Weather Mapping) which often incorporate geographic elements:

Topological map of Internet Initiative Japan backbone:

Geo-topological Line load map of CESNET academic network (Czech Republic):

Examples of Mapping Internet Growth:

- The following is a snapshot taken from 'The Skitter Project', run by the CAIDA research group - which measures I.P. paths, round trip paths, track persistent routing changes and network connectivity:


- "CAIDA's measurement efforts are intended to help users, providers and researchers understand the complexities in the current and future Internet. Skitter research will provide the community with insight into the complexity of a large, heterogeneous, and dynamic worldwide topology."

- Bill Cheswick's Internet Mapping Project is an amazing and unique example of what you could call Organic topological mapping. Here is some of his older work with Lumeta Corp:



Change of network stability during Bosnian War: http://www.cheswick.com/ches/map/yu/may.mpeg

I.P. address map (big file!) - These maps are now 3D and interactive if you purchase the Lumeta Map Viewer.
http://www.cheswick.com/ches/map/movie.mpeg