The RIPE has chosen to fund two projects during the year 2021 including that of our GEODE researchers Louis Petiniaud, PhD student; Kevin Limonier, assistant director who is supervising the project as well as Loqman Salamatian, PhD studen at Columbia University.

This research project makes the connection between Internet and network mapping combined with techniques and methods of cartography. It will explore and develop methods aiming at better understanding interactions between the Internet and the topographical and geopolitical space.

The project will focus on the macro-region of Central Asia (focusing on Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan). The researchers intend to produce a comprehensive and diverse set of maps and visualisations that provide insights on the local Internet as situated in the geographical and geopolitical context of Central Asia.

It is an almost enclaved network, with limited connections to the major networks of the Internet, and with few Internet infrastructures. The structure of the network is undergoing changes, and may be bound to change at a faster rate in the coming months, given the technical and geopolitical investments of foreign actors in the region

The primary objective of the project is to develop a cartography of the digital space at three levels: routing architecture, data paths, and latency, and to elaborate methods to apply them to topographical maps that will include geographic and geopolitical qualitative data.

Find all the information about this project on the RIPE website here