I am looking for an application/bot that maps the links between
websites and that produces a visual network display of the
interconnected sites. This would work by providing an intial website
(ground zero) and then the bot searches for links to other sites and
repeats the process. Such an application would have a variable
'counter' in how many sites it searched (like the 'link depth' setting
on IE6 Favourites for off-line viewing)otherwise it would probably
keep on going for ever.

I guess I'm looking for an app. that has the bot functionality of a
website link mapper/manager, and a visual network mapping tool used by
social/organisational analysts.

This app is to run on a XP desktop

---

Request for Question Clarification by wildeeo-ga on 19 Jun 2002 15:05 PDT

Am I right in thinking you want a product that offers similar
functionality with and similar output to
http://www.metastatic.org/wlm/? (This site shows a visual tree of
which weblogs link to which in a Java applet.)

---

Request for Question Clarification by xemion-ga on 19 Jun 2002 19:40 PDT

Ok, I'm a little confused...

Do you want a visual site layout like Frontpage or Dreamweaver with
just the files names mapped out?

OR

Do you want a program that actually remembers each website?

Ok, I've read your question closely and it sounds like this is the
program for you:

WebFeedback
http://www.liebhart.com/webfeedback/en/step_e.html
http://download.com.com/3000-2251-7554923.html?tag=lst-0-8

And in case that one doesn't work, here are some others that I found:

PowerMapper 2.0
http://download.com.com/3000-2048-879331.html?tag=lst-0-16

Xtreeme SiteXpert 5.1
http://download.com.com/3000-2048-6603023.html?tag=lst-0-18

MacroBot Lite 3.0
http://download.com.com/3000-2356-878136.html?tag=lst-0-6

WebMap Beta
http://download.com.com/3000-2366-5126558.html?tag=lst-0-25

I don't have XP, but these programs should work on XP.  I found these
programs by search Download.com for "site map":
http://download.com.com/3120-20-0.html?qt=site+map&tg=dl-2001

Thanks for the question and if you require more information regarding
my answer or if these programs are not what you're looking for, don't
hesitate to ask for clarification.  And if you find this answer
satisfactory, please feel free to rate it. Thank you!
           
xemion-ga

Hirop,

Microsoft Frontpage provides such functionality -- well, almost.
http://microsoft.com/frontpage/

You can import a website by providing an online address. The files
will be downloaded to your hard disk. Then, you can click on
"Hyperlinks" to the left side and find a visual representation of how
pages interconnect.
I'm almost certain this is not quite what you want, because it's
reduced to a single website, and makes it necessary to download all
the files (albeit of a given restricted depth).

Another tool is a free Java applet, still only another piece of the
puzzle. GraphLayout by Sun Microsystems visualizes interconnections,
while dynamically looking for the most "stress free" node layout:
http://java.sun.com/applets/jdk/1.0/demo/GraphLayout/example1.html

I have not received any information back about becoming a researcher
yet so I will enter my answer as a comment.

You can try the program WinHTTrack Website Copier
(http://www.httrack.com/page0.php).

You can use Teleport Pro... This is application for offline browsing
of web sites, with many options including an option to fallow external
links.
It has an option for the depth of the linked sites...

The bad news is that it actualy collects files, but you can always use
filters.