Learning where Internet networks connect using public routing data

What is it about?

Internet routing data usually shows which networks exchange traffic, but not where this happens physically. Some networks attach routing labels that can indicate locations such as cities, but most of these labels are undocumented. In this work, we show that the geographic meaning of such labels can be inferred by analyzing publicly available routing data and the locations of the IP address blocks they tag.

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Photo by KOBU Agency on Unsplash

Photo by KOBU Agency on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Knowing where networks interconnect is important for understanding Internet structure, performance, and resilience. This work shows that geographic information can be recovered from existing routing data without relying on private documentation, providing a foundation for future efforts to improve transparency in Internet routing.

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