Fwd.: Missile Tracks Across The Net

[KXX4493553 at aol.com]

 http://mappa.mundi.net/maps/maps_008/
the beginning of the text:

Missile Tracks Across The Net 
      One of the great urban myths concerning the origins of the Internet is 
that it was designed to survive a Soviet nuclear strike through its 
distributed structure. This month's map reminds me of this myth as it looks 
like ballistic missile tracks displayed on some NORAD radar display. The 
world is encompassed by a fountain of arcing trails, streaking from country 
to country in some global Armageddon. In fact, this striking 'arc map' is a 
visualization of Internet traffic flows between nations. 

      The arc map was created by visualization researchers at Bell 
Laboratories-Lucent Technologies, in Naperville, Illinois. Key researchers in 
the Bell Labs team are Ken Cox, Taosong He and Graham Wills, with leadership 
from Stephen G. Eick. The map has a particular power and beauty. And it is 
fast becoming one of the iconic representations of the Internet, widely 
employed to answer a basic question - what does the Net look like? 

 kwp