The invention is a method and apparatus for determining an approximate network distance using one or more reference points. In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the method comprises the steps of selecting at least one reference point positioned along a path between first and second points of a network, generating first distance metric information associated with at least one path associating a first point and the at least one reference point, generating second distance metric information associated with at least one path associating a second point and the at least one reference point, and determining a total approximate distance between the first point and the second point along one or more paths based on the first and second distance metric information. In one or more embodiments, the second distance metric information is published to one or more servers providing domain name server mapping information and the second distance metric information is provided to the first point along with requested mapping information. In one or more embodiments, total approximate distance information between a client and multiple servers providing a desired service is determined and a server associated with a shortest total approximate distance is selected from which to obtain the service.