Tuesday
(2)A project to create a comprehensive graphical representation of the internet in just one day and using only a single computer has already produced some eye-catching images. The Opte Project uses a networking program called "traceroute". This records the network addresses that a data packet hops between as it travels towards a particular network host. The project is free and represents a lot of donated time.
Click for larger image and enjoy
via Network Edge
That's really a remarkable picture. It really does look astronomical somehow, although not of any actual astronomical object I know about. (Of course, this comes at least partly from the entirely arbitrary choice of colours by the people who put it together, but it still somehow has the same kind of beauty some astronomical photographs do).
Posted by Michael Jennings at December 2, 2003 11:17 AM
And to think that each point is a network block of up to 255 computers. My oh my did the net take off, isn't that a pretty fractal? Probably why it looks astronomical, as the net has been shown to have a fairly scale-free structure.
When I was running around in the 80s screaming that someday kids would email their grandparents, and everyone thought I was crazy, I had no idea it would grow so darn FAST once it took off.
Posted by David Mercer at December 2, 2003 08:09 PM
