Mapping the Internet, one node at a time by Kim Davies

In the foyer of the ICANN head office, Kim Davies reports they have hung on the walls a number of interesting maps of the Internet. There are various takes on displaying the Internet on charts and in diagrams. They range from the mind-bogglingly complex to the almost comically simple. One map of the Internet they have not hung on the wall, but derived amusement when passed around in email, was one person’s interpretation of IANA’s IPv4 address space registry. In this registry, IANA coordinates the IP address space – primarily by assigning large blocks to Regional Internet Registries for further allocation. Kim then goes on to write; “given this, I got to thinking – what if we took the same algorithm used in the hand-drawn map, but plugged in the true allocation data and graphed it to a much more detailed level? After a little time spent fussing around…” well, you can see what he came up with, as well as the rest of the maps by going to:http://blog.icann.org/?p=115