Early Mapping of Silicon Valley and the Web

Five pictorial maps below trace the development of Silicon Valley from 1981 to 1991. Six additional maps show the growth of the Web from 1995 to 2009. There are interesting commonalities between the maps, the first group of five showing the physical space of Silicon Valley in the 1980's and the location of its first start up companies, many now gone. The six Web maps are an abstraction of the invisible structure of the early 1995 Web, leading to the complexity of the Web of 2009.

Below is the earliest map we have seen to identify Silicon Valley and show the businesses there, although it is likely there may be earlier ones. Published in 1981, it shows the San Francisco Bay area from San Francisco south to Almaden Valley. The graphic method is typical for pictorial maps of the period, using a cartoon style and bright colors. It was drawn by children's book  illustrator Corbin Hillam.

This 1982 map of the valley shows many more businesses, both technology firms and others. It was published by City Graphics and drawn by Maryanne Regal Hoburg, like Corbin, a children's book author. See this video interview of Hoburg. City Graphics also published a map of the technology businesses along route 128 outside of Boston, Massachusetts.

In 1983 City Graphics published a new version of Hoburg's 1982 Silicon Valley map, updated and apparently not drawn by her. Many of the companies have moved to new locations and new companies have replaced their former sites. 

Kirby Scudder's 1986 Silicon Valley map is done in the style of Saul Steinberg's famous 1976 New Yorker Magazine cover.

The last map in the series is a 1991 calendar published by F.A.P. Fine Art Printers. Seagate is a feature name above the calendar, likely due to sponsorship of the map. The valley seems less dense with companies than the earlier maps, either due to industry consolidation or the map's focus on larger businesses or both.

The following six maps attempt to show the structure of the Internet and its form. Most but not all of the companies listed originated in Silicon Valley. The last four maps are by Information Architects, an international design firm based in Tokyo.

Below is a map published by P.C. Computing. Drawn by Timothy Downs and Neil Randall, it shows where free content was available on the Internet in 1995 and how to access it. It is an interesting data visualization of the early Internet structure. Many of these services are long gone from the Web. Timothy Downs created another web navigation map in 1996, as well as another one in 1994

P.C. Computing also published this 1996 guide to the Internet for Mac users. Many of the institutional information resources remain, but many other resources are long gone.

Skipping ahead 10 years to 2006, the Internet has changed in significant ways as shown by this map by iA Information Architects. From the 30. December 2006 iA blog: "The iA Trend Map shows all the big players, the current Internet trends and how they’re connected, using the Tokyo Metro map. It’s totally unscientific and almost useless, but definitely fun to look at." More at iA blog.

Information Architects updated their 2007 map later the same year with a version 2. From the 26. June 2007 iA blog: "We have done it before: the 200 most successful websites pinned down on the Tokyo Metro Map, ordered by category, proximity, success, popularity, and perspective. Now we have done it again—and better. Back by popular demand: here is iA’s next Web Trend Map..." More at the iA blog.

In 2008, Information Architects came up with a completely new version of their Web map. From the 11. January 2008 (and other dates) iA blog: "As you can tell, we’ve redesigned the Web Trend Map from scratch. It’s now presented as an isometric landscape. It employs the Kanto area as its metaphor with two additional layers: one showing the brand evaluation of the main sites, and another their interface. We’ve invested another two hard weeks of work into this, so you’d better madly love it. Just like Windows Vista, it may be 'the last of its kind.'" More at https://ia.net/topi… and https://ia.net/topi… and https://ia.net/topi…

In 2009 Information Architects published their last Web map, an elegant multi dimensional version. From the 02. June 2009 iA blog: "It hangs in the headquarters of Google, Microsoft, Facebook, WordPress, and Yahoo! Japan. Even the CERN in Geneva has its own copy… It has been featured all across the web from TechCrunch to BoingBoing, and Gawker. The Web Trend Map plots the Internet’s leading names and domains onto the Tokyo Metro map. Domains and personalities are carefully selected through dialog with map enthusiasts, and every domain is evaluated based on traffic, revenue, and character. We grouped together closely associated websites, ensuring that every domain is on an appropriate line. As a result, the map produces a web of associations: some provocative, some curious, others ironically accurate." More at iA blog.