New Map of the Internet Tracks Top 350,000 Sites
Ever wondered what a modern, interactive map of the Internet would look like? Here's your chance to find out. The appropriately (if somewhat unimaginatively) named Internet Map site has drawn the top 350,000 websites in relation to each other, with sites grouped according to cross-link strength and topic. Sites are color-coded by region; Russia is the top red segment, China is the yellow section at the bottom-left, Japan is purple, and North America is the giant splotch of blue in the center.
Clusters of websites within the map are grouped semantically; the author notes that "a vast porno cluster can be seen between Brazil and Japan as well as a host of minor clusters uniting websites of the same field or similar purposes."
There's no ability to compare two different spheres to see which is larger, save by eyeball, but it's fascinating to scroll through the various spheres, looking at which sites end up grouped together thematically. The farther in you scroll, the more sites you can see, which makes navigating the map akin to perusing the night sky -- zoom in to one particular area, and you'll see stars -- or circles -- you didn't realize were there. Stars that were insignificant on the galactic level become screen-dominating entities in their own right as you zoom inwards. Occasionally you'll find oddities -- the blue orb to the south, in amongst the purple, is Blogspot; the green star to the left of Google is Google India. Live.com is in with Turkey.
The titans of industry
Granted, we'd love to see what a 3D accelerated version of the interface could do, but the Google Maps engine has created something simple and beautiful here. And a time sink. Don't start looking through it at work, or you'll find yourself examining the intricacies of the Great Wikipedia Cluster when your boss walks by at 5PM. The Internet is a proven method for artists to create and distribute their art, but Ruslan Enikeev, the man who created this display, has illustrated that the Internet itself is art.
Clusters of websites within the map are grouped semantically; the author notes that "a vast porno cluster can be seen between Brazil and Japan as well as a host of minor clusters uniting websites of the same field or similar purposes."
There's no ability to compare two different spheres to see which is larger, save by eyeball, but it's fascinating to scroll through the various spheres, looking at which sites end up grouped together thematically. The farther in you scroll, the more sites you can see, which makes navigating the map akin to perusing the night sky -- zoom in to one particular area, and you'll see stars -- or circles -- you didn't realize were there. Stars that were insignificant on the galactic level become screen-dominating entities in their own right as you zoom inwards. Occasionally you'll find oddities -- the blue orb to the south, in amongst the purple, is Blogspot; the green star to the left of Google is Google India. Live.com is in with Turkey.
The titans of industry
Granted, we'd love to see what a 3D accelerated version of the interface could do, but the Google Maps engine has created something simple and beautiful here. And a time sink. Don't start looking through it at work, or you'll find yourself examining the intricacies of the Great Wikipedia Cluster when your boss walks by at 5PM. The Internet is a proven method for artists to create and distribute their art, but Ruslan Enikeev, the man who created this display, has illustrated that the Internet itself is art.
