[HECnet] Map of HECnet locations

[Dave McGuire]

On 3/10/20 4:43 PM, Paul Koning wrote:
>>>   Has anybody done a map (an actual geographic map, not just a list) of HECnet locations?
>>
>> There was an attempt several years ago, but I think it fizzled out.
>>
>> It would be interesting. Even better if it could also draw lines between points that have direct connections.
>>
>> A slight problem is that the physical location of nodes are not always known...
> 
> The open source genealogy program Gramps has some similar requirements.  It uses a package "Graphviz" that has lots of charting options.  The documentation for that package shows a network map as one example.
> 
> The other thing Gramps does is interface to map services like OpenStreetMap, which suggests ways to make a "geographic map".

  It might be easier to use a generalized GIS application like QGIS.
This immensely powerful (and free) software allows one to connect to GIS
servers, like WMS servers, which are the industry standard method for
publshing GIS data.  Really the best way to do this (IMO) is to set up a
WMS server to serve the map data for HECnet.  That way, anyone can
overlay it on any mapping system that speaks WMS, which is pretty much
all of them.

  And it would be friggin' COOL.

  Warning, if you've never heard of QGIS, and if you go grab it and
start farting around with it, you will fall down a very deep rabbit
hole.  There are WMS servers everywhere, for every kind of global data
and map that you can imagine, and it's an incredible piece of software.

               -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA