I had a bit of software on a previous computer which would show the routing of a link to a site - is this connected and if so, can you remember what software I'm talking about?
If you are speaking of tracert, then it is related to ping - they are both part of the ICMP - Internet Control Message Protocol suite - that is built-into every implementation of TCP/IP that I am aware of.
It shows the interfaces that are traversed by a ping packet from your PC to the remote host.
Try tracert
www.pprune.org to see what you get.
Again there are various command-line switches that you can use to tailor it to your need of the moment.
You might be talking about something altogether more advanced, such as Virtual Route or similar. These are commercial products that add lots of additional functionality and GUI interface to the ICMP stuff. For example, VR can show you a map of the world with your PC and the remote host and all intervening hops marked by their position - obtained by querying the WHOIS databases maintained by RIPE and IANA and those responsible for managing the allocation of physical IP addresses.