What does it take to map the Seattle region's high-tech universe? A lot of time, effort and research.

At least that's the experience of Washington Technology Industry Association President Ken Myer, whose organization embarked on an ambitious journey about a year ago to map hundreds of high-tech companies in the region and their connections to one another. 

The result of that project -- led by Virginia Tech researcher Heike Mayer -- is a fascinating poster and Web site showing 781 companies from the region scattered across a virtual universe. Anchoring the poster are six of Seattle's technology pillars: Microsoft, Amazon.com, Aldus, McCaw Cellular, Boeing and the University of Washington. Microsoft -- represented by a yellow 'planet' at the center of the poster -- is by far the biggest solar system, with four rings and dozens of companies connected to it.

The WTIA will debut the poster and Web site at a Thursday morning reception in Seattle. Tom Alberg of Madrona Venture Group and Ed Lazowska of the University of Washington -- who played a role in a good share of the companies on the poster and were instrumental in its development -- will be on hand to share some of the early war stories of the Seattle tech region. TechFlash is a media sponsor of the Puget Sound Tech Universe.

It's possible to spend hours immersed in the poster. For example, you can see how Microsoft and the University of Washington are connected to Farecast, an online travel site that was founded at the UW by computer scientist Oren Etzioni and purchased by Microsoft last year.

Or you can follow the purple lines of the UW to see how a company like NorthWestNet led to Interglobe Consulting which led to InterNap which led to Network Clarity which led to Grid Networks.

Blue 'planets' -- not connected to any of the tech giants in the region -- float in space around the big solar systems. Some of those have already started to form their smaller networks such as IVI Publishing, which spawned The Cobalt Group which spawned Vigilos. Or Blue Nile, which led to the creation of Wetpaint.

Green stars represent venture capital firms, while satellite dishes represent industry support groups such as the WTIA, MIT Enterprise Forum and BarCamp Seattle.

Of course, any project like this is a work in progress. And it is far from perfect. There are mistakes, including misspellings of companies and missed connections. (The Jobster sphere only has three companies, which we know from our reporting last month really should be much bigger.)

Myer invites the tech community to offer suggestions and feedback once the interactive map launches.

The Puget Sound Tech Universe gained momentum after Myer encountered a similar poster in Portland. "I saw the results and I said we have to do this," he recalls. In his view, it was an important project in order to understand the "foundation of our industry and where founders came from."

Now that the first version is complete, Myer said that certain trends and insights are emerging. He said the poster, which costs $14.95, shows just how important some key companies and organizations are to the region. It also shows that the industry is relatively young, anchored for the most part by information technology.

"The first thing is somewhat of an awestruck reaction when you look at the picture of what you see here," Myer said. "It is just a wonderful story."

UPDATE: Here's a link to the online map.