Region Meshes

Region Meshes is an interactive tool for analysing intra-region routing paths to understand IXP utilisation and in-region traffic patterns. It uses RIPE Atlas traceroute data to show how traffic flows between probes within a country or region, highlighting whether paths stay local and whether they traverse Internet Exchange Points (IXPs).

Overview

Region Meshes helps you understand regional routing by providing:

• A matrix (grid) view of all probe-to-probe paths within a region
• A geographic map view with great-circle arcs showing routing paths
• A Sankey flow diagram view of traffic between ASNs
• Path classification by IXP usage and domestic/international routing
• Full traceroute inspection for each path

Getting Started

1. Select a Month from the dropdown (most recent data appears first)
2. Select a Region (country) — the dropdown is searchable by name or country code
3. Choose IPv4 or IPv6 (buttons are disabled if no data exists for that address family)
4. Click Load Data to fetch and process the measurement data

Once loaded, the tool displays path data across three views: Grid, Map, and Flow.

Path Classification

By default, IXP data only mode is enabled. In this mode, hop locations are determined exclusively from IXP data, where the physical location of each exchange is known with certainty. Every probe-to-probe path is classified into one of three categories:

Category	Colour	Description
IXP, In-Region	Green	IXP is within the target region
IXP, Out-of-Region	Blue	IXP is outside the target region
No IXP	Grey	No IXP present in the path — region classification is not attempted

Extended Classification (IXP Data Only Off)

Toggling IXP data only off enables additional region resolution using rDNS and IP geolocation. This expands the classification to four categories by distinguishing domestic and international routing for non-IXP paths as well:

Category	Colour	Description
IXP, In-Region	Green	Path uses an IXP and stays within the region — the ideal case
IXP, Out-of-Region	Blue	Path uses an IXP but leaves the region at some point
No IXP, In-Region	Yellow	Path stays within the region but does not use an IXP
No IXP, Out-of-Region	Red	Path leaves the region and does not use an IXP

WARNING

Non-IXP region resolution relies on rDNS and IP geolocation, which can be inaccurate. Keep IXP data only mode enabled when you need higher confidence in the results.

Views

Grid View

The grid displays a source-probe (rows) by destination-probe (columns) matrix. Each cell represents one traceroute path and is coloured according to its path classification.

• Hover a cell to see a popup with path details — source/destination ASN, IXP info, and hop summary
• Click a cell to pin the popup and view the full traceroute with per-hop details
• ASN header labels link to the corresponding probe detail page
• Cells are dimmed when a filter is active and the path does not match, or when its category is toggled off

Map View

The map plots probe locations and draws great-circle arcs for each routing path, colour-coded by category.

• Hover an arc to highlight it and see path details
• Click an arc to pin its popup — all other arcs are hidden and the selected path is highlighted in white, with country outlines for involved countries shown
• IXP markers appear as coloured circles at exchange locations; hover for a tooltip, click to pin the path popup
• Overlapping paths: when multiple paths share the same arc, a selection menu appears listing each path as "AS#### → AS####" with a category badge — hover to preview, click to pin

Category Toggles

Below the map, category chips control which arc types are visible:

• Click a chip to show only that category
• If only one category is visible, clicking it toggles it off and restores all others
• The Total chip toggles all categories on or off

Flow View

The Sankey (flow) diagram shows traffic paths between source ASNs on the left and destination ASNs on the right. Link width and colour represent the number and classification of paths flowing between ASN pairs.

• Hover a link to see path details
• Click a link to pin the popup
• Click an ASN node to open the probe detail page

Filtering

The filter bar below the controls accepts search terms to narrow the displayed paths. Type a term and press comma or wait briefly to create a filter chip. Multiple chips are combined (all must match).

Supported filter terms:

• ASN — e.g. AS3333 or 3333
• IP address — matches against hop IPs in the traceroute
• IXP name — partial match on exchange names (or type ixp to match any IXP path)
• Probe ID — numeric probe identifier
• Country code — two-letter code matching hop or foreign countries

The toggle button next to the filter switches between include (show only matching paths) and exclude (hide matching paths) mode.

Filters apply across all three views. In the grid, non-matching cells are dimmed rather than removed, preserving the matrix layout.

Path Popup Details

When a path is pinned (by clicking a cell, arc, or flow link), the popup shows:

• Source and destination probe IDs (linked) and ASN names
• Measurement links — direct links to the Khipu visualisation, the measurement page, and (from grid and flow views) a Map link that switches to the map view with the path highlighted
• Classification chips — Via IXP / No IXP, In-Region / Out-of-Region
• IXP badges — names and countries of exchanges in the path
• Full traceroute table — each hop with IP (linked to RIPEstat), hostname, ASN, RTT, and badges for IXP or foreign-country hops

Pinned popups can be dragged by their header and dismissed by clicking the close button, pressing Escape, or clicking outside.

URL-Based State Sharing

All view state is encoded in the URL, making it easy to share a specific view:

• Route parameters: country, address family, active view tab — e.g. /use-cases/region-meshes/nl/v4/map
• Query parameters:
  • date — selected month
  • ixp — IXP-only mode (0 = off, default is on)
  • filter — active filter chips (comma-separated)
  • filterNot — exclude mode (1 = enabled)
  • path — pinned path selection (e.g. 12345-67890)

The URL updates automatically as you interact with the tool. Opening a shared URL restores the full state, loading the data automatically if available.

Common Use Cases

Assessing IXP Utilisation in a Country

1. Select the target country and load data
2. Review the category counts in the statistics bar — the ratio of green (IXP In-Region) to blue (IXP Out-of-Region) and grey (No IXP) indicates how well local IXPs are utilised
3. Use the category chips on the map to isolate IXP vs non-IXP paths
4. Click individual arcs to inspect which exchanges are being used and where they are located

Identifying Routing Detours

1. Load data for your region and switch to the Map view
2. Look for blue arcs (IXP Out-of-Region) — these represent paths that leave the country to reach an IXP abroad, a clear sign of routing detours
3. Click an arc to inspect the full traceroute and see which foreign IXP is being used
4. For a more complete picture, toggle IXP data only off to enable the extended four-category classification — red arcs (No IXP, Out-of-Region) reveal paths that leave the country without using any IXP at all
5. Note the ASNs involved — these may benefit from local peering or membership at a domestic IXP

Comparing IPv4 and IPv6 Routing

1. Load data for a country with IPv4 selected
2. Note the category distribution and review paths of interest
3. Switch to IPv6 and load data again
4. Compare the category ratios — differences may indicate that IPv6 peering is less established in the region or that fewer IXPs support IPv6

Investigating Specific ASN Routing

1. Load data for your region
2. Use the filter bar to enter the ASN of interest (e.g. AS3333)
3. Review which paths involve that ASN across all three views
4. Pin individual paths to inspect full traceroutes and IXP usage