network-v1/research/ip-network-roadmap.md

IP network research roadmap

Next addresses and ranges

Expand by semantically important ranges, not by blindly incrementing every IPv4 address:

1. Special-purpose baseline: 0.0.0.0/8, RFC 1918 private ranges, shared address space, loopback, link-local, documentation, benchmarking, multicast, and reserved space.
2. Public resolver landmarks: 1.1.1.1, 8.8.8.8, 9.9.9.9, and their IPv6 counterparts.
3. DNS root-server identities and their anycast origin/operator relationships.
4. Representative addresses from each RIR service region.
5. Major cloud, CDN, transit, access, and public-sector networks selected by transparent criteria.

Automation backlog

• Download IANA IPv4 and IPv6 special-purpose registries.
• Implement IANA RDAP bootstrap discovery instead of hard-coding one RIR.
• Cache source observations with timestamps and respectful rate limits.
• Add BGP multi-origin and more-specific-prefix handling.
• Add RPKI validity and ROA evidence.
• Normalize ASN and organization records instead of repeating names.
• Generate human-readable address pages from reviewed data.
• Add tests for IPv4/IPv6 parsing and special-purpose precedence.

Guardrails

• Do not scan hosts or ports merely to populate the directory.
• Do not equate WHOIS/RDAP registration with legal ownership or current operation.
• Do not publish private contact details.
• Do not infer physical location from registration country alone.
• Do not claim one BGP collector provides complete global truth.