Web Trend Map 2007 Version 2.0

iA is back with the Web Trend Map 2007 Version 2.0, a gorgeous and fascinating information graphic that uses a slightly modified version of the Tokyo subway map to plot the 20 most successful websites according to category, proximity, success, popularity, and perspective.

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The Web Trend Map is available as a free download in various sizes and a free printable A3 pdf. You can also purchase it as a poster for $25.

iA, a Japan-based design agency, uses the map to help position clients' internet strategy. I think it's just plain fasscinating to follow the various subway lines and see the stops along the way. The Social News (Green) line for instance runs from Digg through Netvibes, Wordpress, Technorati, Del.icio.us, and Newsvine, before connecting with the News (Light Green) line at OhMyNews and continuing through Beppe Grillo (an Italian lanuage blog), The Washington Post, and onward...

Also interesting are the prognoses iA gives the various sites (in the form of weather forcasting graphics) and the places where the various lines intersect.

Great for desktop wallpaper or just pin it to your cube wall (as I have done).