The methods that are used to collect the data aren't described fully.  The wiki article does specify that "It is currently still unknown how reliable this information is."
  - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Bitcoin_Map

There have been some developments including "split channel" for the IRC and DNSSeed, so it is possible the data collection method initially used is incompatible with the changes.


Google maps won't render the live data ( https://smsz.net/btcStats/bitcoin.kml ) , presumably because the KML data has grown too large:
  - http://maps.google.com/maps?q=https://smsz.net/btcStats/bitcoin.kml

So that we have at least a relatively current working view of the map, I published a link with a snapshot from July 6th after ripping out all data except for ip address and location.
  - http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://c1958612.r12.cf0.rackcdn.com/bitcoin.kml

Cool though one of them dots in US will prolly be me though I live in Australia. VPN is a beautiful thing.. 

Wait..no I might be that little green dot in New Zealand using the NZ-US node (I thought there would be more of us lol)

AS stated, the official file is too big for Google Maps and won't read it.

Another version was made available with all the version and port information gone to save space.

Hey, could you make another release taking samples for three days of any node that showed up in the official kml? I would really appreciate it.

This seems to be working again.

Is it related to a huge drop in active clients as indicated by bitcoinstats?
http://bitcoinstats.org/count.html

No, that kml no longer gets updated.

Rowit stopped updating mid-July.

There probably are some traders collecting this info but nobody is sharing it as far as I know.  

Here's one reason why:
 - http://blockchain.info/charts/my-wallet-n-users

Electrum, BitcoinSpinner, and online hosted (shared) EWallets are another.

Sorry there's not much to go on to quantify if though.

What might be useful is to watch the growth of this metric:

"Total Unique Ip Addresses: 1,151,068.00"  - Bitcoin nodes blockchain.info has connected to in the past.
 - http://blockchain.info/ip-log

And this once again proves that bitcoin is unlimited. It really is suitable as a use as a global cryptocurrency, so we should do our best to develop it and use as much as possible on the territory of your country, if it is allowed by your government.