Full Net Census Takes a Hint From xkcd

netbuzz writes "The University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute says it's the first full census of the 'visible Internet' since David Smallberg canvassed a piddling 315 allocated addresses in 1982. They're talking about 3 billion pings directed toward 2.8 million addresses over the course of 62 days. Oh, and they credit the comic strip xkcd for sparking the idea of presenting the data using a Hilbert curve." The main page for the census project has links to versions of the census at various scales.

first census

[Anonymous Coward]

here I am. continue counting...

Yay, we really are Digg.

[Anonymous Coward]

xkcd on the front page...

See also xkcd comic "Online Communities"

[saibot834]

Randall Munroe [wikipedia.org] (xkcd author) also made this [xkcd.com] comic entitled "Online Communities". Also a nice way to make a map of the internet. (Extra points for those, who find "Stallman's Airship")

Plot of the internet 9ft tall

[N1ck0]

Don't you just hate it when the internet wraps onto the ceiling [isi.edu]. All those packets are horrible on the acoustic tiles.

And once it gets up there you know its going to be hard to get it back down.

over under?

[SIIHP]

So what's the over under on the percentage of porn sites?

85%?

Re:Really useful for the colorblind

[EveryNickIsTaken]

I'm still waiting for the braile version.

Seriously guys, wtf.

Well if they need it...

[CaptainPatent]

I'd be willing to be a guinea pig for their next project [xkcd.com]

61% are non-replies

[digitaldc]

39% are pr0n

Re:Well if they need it...

[apt142]

Knowing my luck, I'd be in the control group.

Stand up and be counted?

[ackthpt]

They're talking about 3 billion pings directed toward 2.8 million addresses over the course of 62 days.

I assume 90% are spambots, 5% are people trying to get Frist Psot and the remainder are legit.

you forgot some

[OrangeTide]

... 5% downloading porn, 10% stealing copyright material. the remainder are legit.

sure, that might be 110%, but that just shows you how efficient the Internet is.

Re:Why has nobody commented on the Hilbert Curve?

[dextromulous]

I knew the Hilbert curve could fill the space by replacing each segment with a copy of itself (a basic concept in fractal theory, self similarity). But I didn't know that the curve had this interesting property: Similar addresses had nearby locations in two-dimensional space. The XKCD guy is a genius.

Anyway, here's more info on the Hilbert Curve [wikipedia.org]. Enjoy.

News bulletin: two points that are close to each other on a line are close to each other when the line is curved.

Re:Well if they need it...

[fph il quozientatore]

I'd be willing to be a guinea pig for this [xkcd.com] project

Re:Really useful for the colorblind

[mcmonkey]

I'm waiting for the version for the deaf.

WHAT??

Re:colorblindness IS fairly comon

[kefler]

as well as the affect that has varies significantly from one color-blind person the next.

Now, I'd normally think this should be 'effect', but I wonder if you might be doing this. [xkcd.com]

Re:first census

[ubrgeek]

For some reason I'm reminded of the M*A*S*H episode, "Five O'clock Charlie" -

Radar: Are you One?

Hawkeye immediately throws his hand on his hip and with a touch of foppishness replies:

Hawkeye: Yes, are you?

Re:See also xkcd comic "Online Communities"

[mooingyak]

I didn't know I didn't want to know, but thanks to the other poster who replied I am regretfully informed.

Re:Yay, we really are Digg.

[hansamurai]

http://xkcd.com/301/ [xkcd.com]

and Slashdot in the comic.

A delicious cycle.

Re:Really useful for the colorblind

[Guysmiley777]

The ANT Lab doesn't care about color(blind) people.

Oh no! The Total Perspective Vortex (mark 0.7)

[tjwhaynes]

The Total Perspective Vortex is the most horrible torture device to which a sentient being can be subjected. It shows its victim the entire unimaginable infinity of the universe with a very tiny marker that says "You Are Here" which points to a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot.

Re:Yay, we really are Digg.

[Plaid Phantom]

But the awesome comic was what effected the cool map.

Re:Really useful for the colorblind

[Matthew Bafford]

What about simply not caring? Isn't that an excuse?

Sure it is; excuses are really quite easy to generate. Reasonable excuses are a little harder to come by, though.

Historical version

[HeadlessNotAHorseman]

For a historical comparison, just to show how far we have come, I have printed below an equivalent map that was generated based on 1957 data: