Where is Miami in cyberspace?
If we think of the Internet as an interactive system that spans the Earth, how central is Miami's position within that system?
Is Miami's role in cyberspace on a par with its role in real space, for example in terms of airline connections? Is Miami the e-gateway to the Caribbean and Latin America?
A practical way to find out is by using special software that allows you to trace your Internet connections. For example, see www.neotrace.com.
Doing so, you get a sense of the hierarchy of places in the cyber-world as it shows you the pathways through cyberspace from your computer to the point of destination.
Recently, from my office on the Coral Gables campus of the University of Miami, I visited a few selected Web sites and traced the connections.
First, I visited the Web site of the Free Trade Zone Comodoro Rivadavia in Argentina. My machine is hooked up to the University's mainframe that is, in turn, connected to the Bellsouth network in the Miami area.
Leaving Miami, the connection does not go south in the direction of Argentina, but it heads north, way north. Before reaching Argentina, the connection passes through four major telecom hubs in the United States: Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, and New York. After New York there are no additional major routers, and at some point, the connection "drops" offshore through a submarine cable.
Here are some more examples:
To reach the Universidad Tecnologica de Panama, the connection from Miami is routed via Atlanta and New York. Connecting to the Web site of an exporting organization in Chile, the route is Miami-Atlanta-New York-Boston-Santiago. And to reach a similar site in Bogota, my connection is routed via Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth.
Finally, I could not resist tracing a connection to Cuba, only 90 miles to the south. I tried different Cuban Web sites, registered in Cuba, and every time my connection was routed via Atlanta, north to New York or Toronto, and then it would "disappear" in thin air.
Of course, I did get connected to the Web site, but it is impossible to trace the route and determine through which router station my connection leaves the United States for Cuba.
An appropriate moment, perhaps, to remember that the Internet was originally started by the U.S. Defense Department. But that is a different matter.
It is quite obvious that Miami's role in cyberspace is subordinate and in no way on a par with the city's position in real geography.
Just imagine having to fly from Miami to Panama, having stopovers in Atlanta and New York.
But it is changing.
Construction is underway to bring a new and sophisticated Network Access Point to Miami. A NAP refers to the hardware that is required to build a large capacity exchange point or router.
There are already many - mostly privately controlled - landing points for submarine cables in Florida, but they do not converge in a single hub in South Florida. When the NAP is completed, Miami will become the base for a fiber telecom bridge to the Caribbean and Latin America.
Of course, centrality in cyberspace does not imply better or faster connections. In cyberspace, distance is insignificant. The NAP is important for different reasons.
With the installation of a NAP comes demand for a wide range of high-tech services. It would drive agglomeration effects in the high-tech industry and beyond, and it would promote economic growth in the South Florida region.
But skeptics argue that the process normally works the other way around. That is, telecom hubs emerge in places that already have all the qualifications. These include highly skilled and educated workers and a significant cluster of cutting- edge, high-tech industries.
Often, these industries benefit from local research universities and from a significant influx of government funds (e.g., defense contracting, as in the Los Angeles region).
On many of these criteria, Miami has a long way to go and faces tough competition.
But Internet use in Latin America is growing rapidly and there is a corresponding need for expanded "bandwidth" in the infrastructural connections with the United States.
Government funds may be thin, but there is said to be considerable financial support from a range of large companies for a NAP in South Florida. There may be a future for Miami after all, as an e-gateway to Latin America.
Until then, we'll route our southbound e-mail messages via Atlanta.
Jan Nijman is a professor of Geography at the University of Miami.He writes a regular column for Worldcity on Miami's place in global hierarchy.