Show HN: Live Bitcoin Transactions from around the globe in WebGL

Re:Show HN: Live Bitcoin Transactions from around the globe ... by ionwake on Tuesday November 26, 2013 @09:12AM (#6801283)

Thank you for your feedback but it is my understanding that the nearest nodes will generally be the ones with the least latency Hence the clients node choice is not "semi-random" - and thus quite a good indicator of the area in which the transaction took place. However , as the nearest node is used, the zoom level is capped, as is the resolution of the map. The visual is meant to be a relatively "general indicator".

You are right about online wallets. If you use your blockchain wallet, I do believe the IP of the relay will register as 127.0.0.1, and for this reason I have them omitted from the presentation.

EDIT - everything is going down. I also just uploaded an incorrect older version which is sending GETs with 127.... sigh give it a few days. Ignore my last paragraph Thanks again for your feedback and explanation regarding nodes.

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Re:Show HN: Live Bitcoin Transactions from around the globe ... by Terk on Tuesday November 26, 2013 @09:43AM (#6801516)

> Thank you for your feedback but it is my understanding that the nearest nodes will generally be the ones with the least latency

The latency you mention is actually [my latency to relay node] + [relay node latency to blockchain.info]. I have 20 ms to node A and it has 100 ms to blockchain.info for a total latency of 120 ms. I have 100 ms to node B and it has 10 ms to blockchain.info for a total latency of 110 ms. Node B will most likely relay my transaction to blockchain.info before node A, even if it's five times “farther” from me (100 ms) than node A (20 ms). The combination of latencies makes the relaying IP reported by blockchain.info semi-random.

I don't mean to bring you down or criticize. This is a really cool visualization! It simply visualizes different thing that most people think it does.

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