This detailed map of the Internet is a work of art (pictures)
A Slovakian designer's cartographic creation is one part nerdy, two parts breathtaking.
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Slovakian amateur graphic designer Martin Vargic has created one of the most impressively nerdy works of art I've seen in some time. This remarkably detailed, clever, and creative map of the Internet illustrates the virtual globe in a painstakingly comprehensive way. Vargic gave Crave permission to zoom in and explore this cartographic wonder, which Vargic says is just version 1.0; he has an even more insanely detailed iteration in the works.
Our tour of the Internet begins above, with a look at the Northwestern continent where social networks tend to gather and Facebook dominates the area between the northern Interface Ocean and the Socialization Mountains.
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Chat set adrift
The world's most popular stand-alone chat applications also float more or less by their lonesomes in the massive data ocean. Long time no see, ICQ.
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Mapping CNET
CNET also gets a few nods on Vargic's map. Apparently we can be found hanging out roughly in between AOL and the BBC, but also spending time up on our beachside home in the land of CBS Interactive, along the coast of the great Business Ocean.
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Gaming countries
Hard-core gamers will be most interested to visit the far east of Vargic's map, along the North Connection Ocean.
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Open source nations
Security and open-source fanatics may want to plan a vacation to this region, just be sure not to get caught up in the Adware or Scareware Torrents.
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Digital exile
Perhaps the best part of the map, the Land of Forgotten Websites covers a big chunk of what looks mighty similar to real-world Antarctica. Given its proximity to the chilly Yahoo ice shelf, hopefully Geocities understands why people don't come to visit so much anymore.
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Southern Apple
The southern polar continent also hosts Steve Jobs Land, a presumably good place to store Apple's legacy works as well.
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The Big Apple
Apple dominates the center of the map, while Android and BlackBerry look on from the perimeter. Read into this what you will.
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MS-Map
Ah yes, the old country. Microsoft's official capitol on the map does not yet reflect the move from the city of Ballmer to Nadella.
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The Nexus
Notice that the map's main datastreams flow near popular browsers, but at the center of all data flow sits the Capitol, including the NSA. Hmm....
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The Googleplex
Naturally, Google lays claim to the Land of Indexes, but can you spot the wall that separates YouTube from weird YouTube?
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New world view
And here's the wide view of the entire Internet. To see the full-resolution version and check out all the extras with data on things like internet penetration in the real world, click here.
