An XML
father maps the Web in 3D
From...
IT World
 |
| Map.net, designed by an
XML pioneer, lets you browse the entire
Web using a 3D map interface of
Antarctica |
|
|
November 20, 2000
Web posted at: 9:15 a.m. EST (1415 GMT)
by John K. Waters
(IDG) -- Tim Bray is among a handful
of individuals who played a role in birthing XML. Long a
voice of common sense in the closely knit XML community,
Bray's influence on XML standard evolution is
considerable. His current project is interesting, though
it has no clear immediate impact on enterprise software
developers.
Bray has seen the next step in the
Internet's evolution, and it's a 3-D experience. Bray
has actually taken that next step with this week's
official launch of the Map.net Website.
Using the continent of Antarctica as a
visual reference, Bray's company, Antarcti.ca Systems,
has constructed a three-dimensional map of the World
Wide Web. Built with the company's Visual Net software,
the site presents users with a 3-D landscape; the
relationships between network elements are represented
geographically. Users hover above, moving like a
low-flying helicopter through neighborhoods of Websites.
The experience has been described as
"virtual-reality-like," but the interface
feels more like a sophisticated computer game. Users are
able to see the sites in detail without downloading any
Webpages.
Bray was a keynote speaker at last
week's XML DevCon Fall 2000. Map.net's launch was the
buzz of the conference, which was overshadowed by the
massive Comdex show, but still notable. Bray, who first
mapped the Web in 1995, previewed the site in a keynote
address at the XTech 2000 Conference earlier this year.
"People have gotten used to
seeing the Net through the tiny, unsatisfying lens of
search engines," Bray said. "While the engines
are getting smarter, nobody would describe Web
navigation as either efficient or fun. Antarcti.ca
offers a productive and enjoyable public Website that
gives people a view of the whole Net and lets them use
it in a way that is consistent with the everyday world
they live in."
Visual Net has an open API based on
Web standards, chiefly HTTP and XML. The software uses
XML on the desktop to avoid the network congestion
associated with server-based rendering techniques.
Visual Net plots and diagrams hundreds of thousands of
subject categories and millions of Websites on 2-D and
3-D maps that communicate not only the categories, but
also the size, quality of service, and popularity of the
sites.
The Web appears in "regions"
of varying sizes, determined by the relative popularity
and usage of the sites they contain. According to Bray,
rendering the Web as a 3-D map reveals new and often
obscure information about a network. "It debunks
the canard that the Net is all porn and business,"
he said.
The map's regions include health,
news, business, computers, reference, games, and art.
Within each category, individual sites and documents are
rendered as three-dimensional buildings.
There is a commercial side to Map.net
-- Bray admits that the site is a showcase for Visual
Net. Access to the new site is free, but Bray expects to
promote the Vancouver, British Columbia-based company's
technology to corporations interested in creating data
maps for their own internal networks.
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