Four years ago, we built a 3D map of the internet for Peer 1 Hosting. That was a really fun project – it’s not every day your app is featured on CNN. With over 100,000 downloads and an average rating of almost 5 stars, the Map of the Internet was one of the most-loved apps we’ve built. The visualization was used in various other mediums, including an exhibit at London’s Science Museum. It was really cool.

Soon after the app’s launch, our client Peer 1 was acquired by Montréal-based telecom Cogeco. It seems the key to getting your company acquired is launching a cool app with Steamclock! In the resulting shuffle though, the app got out of date, and eventually it disappeared from the App Store.

When the app went “out of print”, so to speak, we got a surge of fan mail about it. Folks wrote in from around world, asking for information on the data, permission to use the visuals in other work, and whether the app would return. We also got some requests to open source the code, so people could help update the data and continue to support new OSs and devices, which was great to see.

Well, we’re glad to announce that we’ve teamed up with Cogeco Peer 1, who have been great to work with, and brought the apps back to life!

This fall we brought Map of the Internet up to date to support iOS 11, iPhone X, and current versions of Android. The updates are now live on the App Store and Google Play. The new apps feature new data through 2017, and some UI updates and refinements over the original versions too.

Even more exciting is that the folks at Cogeco Peer 1 have agreed to open source the apps! Now, community members can check out the internetmap github repo, propose improvements, and submit pull requests. If you’re down with Objective-C++, we have the project for you! 😘

Thanks so much to the folks at Cogeco Peer 1 for making this project possible, and for all the fans of the app who wrote or tweeted that motivated us to get this done.