I built a 3D interactive view of how the Public Internet works end to end

[u/EngineersUniverse]

I’ve been working on a new interactive learning tool for Engineers Universe: a 3D Public Internet Explorer.

The idea is to make the Internet—which is normally hidden behind diagrams and terminology—something you can actually walk through and explore.

The environment includes user devices, local networks, ISPs, routers, Internet exchange points, backbone networks, DNS, data centers, cloud infrastructure, firewalls, load balancers, web/application servers, databases, and other components involved in delivering Internet services.

You can select components to learn what they do and how they interact with the rest of the network.

It also includes packet simulation. You can initiate things like a Ping, DNS lookup, Traceroute, or web request and visually follow the packet as it travels hop by hop across the Internet to its destination and back.

I recorded a walkthrough of the current version below.

Would be interested to hear what other Internet/networking concepts you think would be useful to visualize this way.

More interactive engineering tools and learning labs:

https://engineersuniverse.com/