I love maps.

I love how they abstract the big picture into something tangible and packed with information.

Did you know there are maps of the Internet?

The internet is not a ‘cloud’ — it’s simply a series of networks that are interconnected. And one of the way internet traffic moves around are by cables under the oceans.

TeleGeography publishes an Interactive Submarine Cable Map and an Interactive Internet Exchange Map. Both are fascinating. So is their Global Internet Map.

What’s the connection with the new mediascape? If your project is digital and relies on the Internet for downloading or streaming, you might want to know where your server is located. If you know where your customers are, you might want to locate it closer to them. You want to be on the bigger pipes, if possible, to minimize the hops required to move your bits around.

My take: these maps help you understand traceroute, the somewhat geeky tool that lists the hops between your location and servers around the world.