In recent years, terms featuring the word "cloud" have become incredibly popular, from public cloud and private cloud to cloud-native, cloud-edge integration, and even national land cloud, planning cloud, etc. It seems almost every industry is moving to the cloud. But have you ever wondered, when we talk about so-called "cloud" data, are those streams of 1s and 0s literally traveling through the sky from a physical perspective?
Actually, no. In fact, over 90% of global international data traffic is transmitted through cables lying in the dark depths of the ocean. From the short video you just watched, to cross-border financial transactions, and even the answers you get from Gemini or ChatGPT, are all exchanged via lengthy submarine cables. But where exactly are they laid? Which countries are international communication hubs? How do different cables differ in bandwidth and operators? Today, let me recommend a must-bookmark professional tool website for all GISers — Submarine Cable Map.
