The Edges of the Matrix

                               John S. Quarterman
                                  jsq@tic.com

                               Copyright (c) 1993
             Matrix Information and Directory Services, Inc. (MIDS)
                      From *Matrix News* 3(3), March 1993.
          Contact: mids@tic.com, +1-512-451-7602, fax: +1-512-450-1436.

                    What are the geographical edges of the
               networked world?  This is a peculiar question,
               with a constantly varying answer.  Here's what
               I've found.  If you know more, please let me know.

          1.  South

          In the book, *The Matrix*, I mentioned that the U.S. Palmer,
          Siple, and South Pole stations exchanged mail with the
          Matrix by way of Kermit over a satellite link to a NASA
          machine in Florida.  This arrangement is still in place for
          the South Pole station, making it clearly the most southerly
          networked place in the world, at 90 degrees south.
          Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station does not have a permanent
          link, and does not use the usual protocols of networks like
          the Internet, UUCP, FidoNet, or BITNET, but mail is
          exchanged with the Matrix.

               The AQ DNS domain for Antarctica was registered in
          March 1992 by New Zealand, specifically by their Department
          of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR).  DSIR has a
          permanent satellite link to Scott Base on Ross Island.  They
          run IP over that link, and it is routed with the Internet.
          But apparently it isn't configured for international access;
          I can't reach it from here.

               However, two kilometers away is the U.S. McMurdo base.
          McMurdo was first connected to the Internet in about
          February 1992.  Apparently there was some problem with
          200mph winds during Antarctic winter, but McMurdo has been
          up solidly since at least December 1992 (Antarctic summer).
          That's about 78S 166E.

               It is rumored that Australia has a link to their
          Antarctic base to Hobart, Tasmania, but it is apparently not

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          Edges                      - 2 -                       South

          routed with the rest of the Internet.

               Other countries are also considering Internet
          connections from Antarctica, and some may be up already.

               There are no FidoNet, UUCP, or BITNET sites in
          Antarctica that I know of.

               The southernmost networked place *not* in Antarctica
          appears to be Hobart, Tasmania, which has UUCP, FidoNet, and
          Internet connections.  There is no BITNET in Australia or
          New Zealand.

          2.  North

          The northernmost networked place in the world is harder to
          discover, because there are so many contenders.

               Most northerly appears to be a node on the NASA Science
          Network (part of the Internet), in Thule, Greenland, at
          77 40N 69 0W.  There are a few towns farther north than
          that, in Greenland, on Ellesmere Island, in Svalbard, and in
          Franz Josef's Land, but they don't seem to be networked.

               Second most northerly appears to be a PC clone running
          Waffle on the North Slope of Alaska, in Atqasuk:
          70 28 10N 157 23 45W.  This is a bit hard to discover, since
          the UUCP map listing for it has 70 28N 157 23N.  Unless this
          node is run by Santa Claus, it's hard to believe it is north
          of the North Pole.  This host is really connected using the
          WWIVnet protocols.  Other than Atqasuk, the northernmost
          networked place in the United States is apparently
          Fairbanks, Alaska.

               The most northerly Canadian hosts appear to be in the
          Northwest Territories.  There are two on FidoNet.  The most
          northerly is the one in Rankin Inlet, 62 30N 93 0W.  The
          other is in Yellowknife.  There is a UUCP host in
          Yellowknife, as well.  That's 62 27 43N 114 26 04W.  The
          most northerly Yukon host appears to be on FidoNet, in
          Whitehorse, at 60 43N 135 03W.

               There is one site in Greenland that I can't locate:
          Edgedesminde.  That may be way north.  However, Nuuk is on
          FidoNet, at 64 10N 51 35W.

               Iceland is farther north, and Kopasker appears to be
          the most northerly site in Iceland, with both Internet and
          UUCP connections, at 66 20 30N 16 29 30W.  Reykjavik is only
          a few degrees farther south, and has UUCP, FidoNet, BITNET,
          and Internet connections, at 64 08 35N 21 57 35W.

               Norway: Tromsoe, with Internet and FidoNet connections,

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          Edges                      - 3 -                       North

          at 69 40N 18 50E.  This is also the site of the most
          northerly networked university in the world.

               Sweden: Lulea, with FidoNet, UUCP, and Internet
          connections, at 65 35 22N 22 10 00E.

               Finland: Oulu, with Internet, BITNET, and FidoNet
          connections, at 65 13 00N 25 19 00E.

               In Russia, Murmansk doesn't seem to be networked, but
          Sverodvinsk and Archangelsk are, around 64 34N 39 50E, on
          FidoNet.  Then there is Komi, on UUCP, at
          63 33 00N 53 38 00E; Petrozavodsk, Karelia, also on UUCP, at
          61 47N 34 20E; Ivanovo, on FidoNet, at 60 32N 36 22E; and
          eventually St. Petersburg, on most networks, at
          59 55N 30 15E.

          3.  West

          Westernmost doesn't mean much on a round planet, but the
          networked place farthest west in longitude from Greenwich is
          Hawaii, with Honolulu at more than 157 degrees west.
          Exactly which town on which island is the westernmost
          networked is unclear.

          4.  East

          Easternmost from Greenwich is Fiji, where the Department of
          Mathematics of the University of the South Pacific in Suva,
          at 18 6S 178 30E, has a UUCP link to New Zealand.  Then
          there are various places in New Zealand, such as Wellington,
          which is connected to most networks except BITNET, at
          41 17 25S 174 46 07E.  Christchurch is also far east,
          followed by Port-Vila, Vanuatu, on the RIO UUCP network, at
          17 44S 168 19E.  Then there is Scott Station (NZ),
          Antarctica, on the Internet; Noumea, New Caledonia, on RIO;
          and McMurdo Station (US), Antarctica, on the Internet, all
          between 166 and 167 degrees east.

               Gold Coast, Queensland, is probably the easternmost
          networked place in Australia, on FidoNet, at 28 04S 153 25E.
          Australia being one of the most networked places in the
          world, many other Australian locations follow.

               Russia's easternmost networked outpost appears to be
          Magadan, north of the Sea of Okhotsk, and at the end of the
          road from the west, with both FidoNet, and UUCP, at
          59 34N 150 48E.  There appears to be nothing on the
          Kamchatka Peninsula, or farther east.  Sakhalin Island is on
          the map, with UUCP.

               Guam's easternmost networked point is on FidoNet, at

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          Edges                      - 4 -                        East

          13 29 02N 144 48 23E.

               The easternmost networked place in the Land of the
          Rising Sun is Kushiro, Hokaido, Japan, on the Internet, at
          42 58N 144 23E.  Sapporo follows soon after, with Internet
          and UUCP connections.

          References

          Matrix News, mids@tic.com                   3(3), March 1993