[HECnet] Map of HECnet locations

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2020-03-11 02:04, Dave McGuire wrote:
> 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.

I'd be happy to work with someone to try and hook up the information in 
my nodename database with something that can visualize it on a map. But 
I have no clue about the map side of things right now...

   Johnny

-- 
Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
                                   ||  on a psychedelic trip
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