Internet map

An Internet map is any kind of map that attempts to portray all or some aspect of the Internet. Since the Internet began developing about 25 years ago, there has always been some kind of map showing what it looks like. Maps, even partial ones, of today's enormous Internet, whether of its physical wiring, its information content, or some other aspect, challenge both creator and user. Yet a map, even a complicated one, has a way of bounding chaos and giving us a ready-packaged mental construct. Some time ago, we discovered Martin Dodge's remarkable collection of Internet maps at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London. His Atlas of Cyberspaces (http://www.cybergeography.org/atlas/atlas.html) contains separate collections for maps of:

• ISP and Internet backbone networks
• Three-dimensional information spaces
• Information landscapes or visualizations
• Cyberspace using geographic metaphors

The Atlas of Cyberspaces also includes examples of Web site maps and several other map categories.