Wikipedia

Internet geolocation

In computing, Internet geolocation is the set of techniques and services that estimate the geographical position of a device connected to the internet (computer, smartphone, smart TV, etc.).

The general term internet geolocation refers to the process of localizing a device connected to the internet[1]. However, there are different technologies and sources that can be used, including IP Addresses[2], radio signals (like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Mobile cells)[3], GPS/GNSS[4], along with additional data provided directly by the device, through the operating system or the browser, usually via API[5][6][7].

Each technology can deliver a different level of accuracy and precision[8][9], and has its specific field of application[10]. Some technologies are used mainly for outdoor/global positioning, while other can be used for indoor ___location[11], inside GPS-denied environments (closed spaces like shopping malls, offices, warehouses)[12][13].

Internet geolocation has several applications, including law enforcement[14], marketing[15], online regulation compliance[16], and delivery of specific services based on the user's ___location[17].

Data sources

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An IP address is assigned to each device (e.g. computer, printer) participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. The protocol specifies that each IP packet must have a header which contains, among other things, the IP address of the sender.

There are a number of free and paid subscription geolocation databases, ranging from country level to state or city—including ZIP/post code level—each with varying claims of accuracy (generally higher at the country level). These databases typically contain IP address data, which may be used in firewalls, ad servers, routing, mail systems, websites, and other automated systems where a geolocation may be useful. An alternative to hosting and querying a database is to obtain the country code for a given IP address through a DNSBL-style lookup from a remote server.

Some commercial databases have augmented geolocation software with demographic data to enable demographic-type targeting using IP address data.

The primary source for IP address data is the regional Internet registries which allocates and distributes IP addresses amongst organizations located in their respective service regions:

  • African Network Information Centre (AfriNIC)
  • American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)
  • Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC)
  • Latin American and Caribbean Internet Address Registry (LACNIC)
  • RIPE Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC)

The registries allow assignees to specify country and geographical coordinates of each assigned block. Starting from 2021 RFC 9092 allows assignees to specify ___location of any IP subnetwork they own.

Secondary sources include:

  • Data mining or user-submitted geographic ___location data:
    • Website-submitted, e.g. a weather website asking visitors for a city name to find their local forecast or pairing a user's IP address with the address information in their account profile.
    • Wi-Fi positioning system through the examination of neighborhood Wi-Fi BSSID. E.g. Mozilla Location Service.
    • Examination of neighborhood Bluetooth devices.
    • Pairing a user's IP address with the GPS ___location of a device that's using such an IP address.
  • Data contributed by Internet service providers.
  • Guesstimates from adjacent Class C range and/or gleaned from network hops.
  • Network routing information collected to the end point of the IP address.
  • Analysis of linguistic data from the device, using pre-trained models that show that some term is frequently mentioned in a certain ___location (e.g. "the T" vs "the El" vs. "the subway").

Accuracy is improved by:

  • Data scrubbing to identify and filter anomalies.
  • Statistical analysis of user submitted data.
  • Utilizing third-party tests conducted by reputable organizations.

Errors

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If geolocation software maps IP addresses associated with an entire county or territory to a particular ___location, such as the geographic center of the territory, this can cause considerable problems for the people who happen to live there, as law enforcement authorities and others may mistakenly assume any crimes or other misconduct associated with the IP address to originate from that particular ___location.

For example, a farmstead northeast of Potwin, Kansas became the default site of 600 million IP addresses when the Massachusetts-based digital mapping company MaxMind changed the putative geographic center of the contiguous United States from 39.8333333,-98.585522 to 38.0000,-97.0000. Since 2012, a family in Pretoria, South Africa, has been regularly visited by police or angry private citizens who believed their stolen phones were to be found in the family's backyard. This was also the result of geolocation by MaxMind. The company used the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's coordinates for Pretoria, which pointed to the family's house, to represent IP addresses associated with Pretoria.

Privacy

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A distinction can be made between co-operative and oppositional geolocation. In some cases, it is in the interest of users to be accurately located, for example, so that they can be offered information relevant to their ___location. In other cases, users prefer not to disclose their ___location for privacy or other reasons.[18]

Technical measures for ensuring anonymity, such as proxy servers, can be used to circumvent restrictions imposed by geolocation software. Some sites detect the use of proxies and anonymizers, and may either block service or provide non-localized content in response.[19]

Applications

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Geolocation technology has been under development only since 1999, and the first patents were granted in 2004.[20] The technology is already widely used in multiple industries,[21] including e-retail, banking, media, telecommunications, education, travel,[22] hospitality, entertainment, health care, online gaming and law enforcement, for preventing online fraud, complying with regulations, managing digital rights[23] and serving targeted marketing content and pricing.[24] Additionally, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed that geolocation software might be leveraged to support 9-1-1 ___location determination.[25]

Criminal investigations

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Banks, software vendors and other online enterprises in the US and elsewhere became subject to strict "know your customer" laws imposed by the USA PATRIOT Act, the Bank Secrecy Act, the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control and other regulatory entities in the US and Europe from the early twenty-first century. These laws are intended to prevent money laundering, trafficking with terrorist organizations, and trading with banned nations. When it is possible to identify the true ___location of online visitors, geolocation can protect banks from participating in the transfer of funds for illicit purposes. More and more prosecuting bodies are bringing cases involving cyber-crimes such as cyber-stalking and identity theft. Prosecutors often have the capability of determining the IP address data necessary to link a computer to a crime.[26]

Fraud detection

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Online retailers and payment processors use geolocation to detect possible credit card fraud by comparing the user's ___location to the billing address on the account or the shipping address provided. A mismatch – an order placed from the US on an account number from Tokyo, for example – is a strong indicator of potential fraud. IP address geolocation can be also used in fraud detection to match billing address postal code or area code.[27] Banks can prevent "phishing" attacks, money laundering and other security breaches by determining the user's ___location as part of the authentication process. Whois databases can also help verify IP addresses and registrants.[28]

Government, law enforcement and corporate security teams use geolocation as an investigatory tool, tracking the Internet routes of online attackers to find the perpetrators and prevent future attacks from the same ___location.

Geomarketing

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Further information: Geomarketing

Since geolocation software can get the information of user ___location, companies using geomarketing may provide web content or products that are famous or useful in that specific ___location. Advertisements and content on a website that uses geolocation software in the form of an API (also referred to as "IP API" or "IP address geolocation API") may be tailored to provide the information that a certain user wants.[29]

Regional licensing

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Internet movie vendors, online broadcasters who serve live streaming video of sporting events, or certain TV and music video sites that are licensed to broadcast their videos of episodes/music videos are permitted to serve viewers only in their licensed territories. By geolocating viewers, they can be certain of obeying licensing regulations.[30] Online gambling websites must also know where their customers violate gambling laws, or risk doing so.

Jim Ramo, chief executive of movie distributor Movielink, said studios were aware of the shortcomings going in and have grown more confident now that the system has been shown to work.[31]

Gaming

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A ___location-based game is a type of pervasive game for smartphones or other mobile devices in which the gameplay evolves and progresses via a player's real-world ___location which is typically obtained by GPS functionality from the device.[32]

Social networking

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "What is geolocation? How websites know your ___location". soax.com. Retrieved 2025-08-26.
  2. ^ "Complete Guide to IP Geolocation". 2024-09-06. Retrieved 2025-08-18.
  3. ^ Leitch, Samuel G.; Ahmed, Qasim Zeeshan; Abbas, Waqas Bin; Hafeez, Maryam; Laziridis, Pavlos I.; Sureephong, Pradorn; Alade, Temitope (2023-10-20). "On Indoor Localization Using WiFi, BLE, UWB, and IMU Technologies". Sensors (Basel, Switzerland). 23 (20): 8598. Bibcode:2023Senso..23.8598L. doi:10.3390/s23208598. ISSN 1424-8220. PMC 10610672. PMID 37896691.
  4. ^ "The use of GNSS receivers in smartphones as high precision positioners". IHR. 2023-11-30. Retrieved 2025-08-18.
  5. ^ "Position sensors | Sensors and ___location". Android Developers. Retrieved 2025-08-18.
  6. ^ "Geolocation API - Web APIs | MDN". developer.mozilla.org. 2025-05-28. Retrieved 2025-08-18.
  7. ^ "Getting the current ___location of a device". Apple Developer Documentation. Retrieved 2025-08-18.
  8. ^ "4 geolocation technologies compared - Sensolus: Asset tracking solution to streamline logistics processes". 2021-07-23. Retrieved 2025-08-26.
  9. ^ "How Accurate is IP Address Location? Guide to Geolocation". ipinfo.io. Retrieved 2025-08-26.
  10. ^ "Explore IP Geolocation with IPstack - Get Started Today". ipstack. Retrieved 2025-08-26.
  11. ^ NRS (2025-04-18). "IP Address Geolocation: How It Works and Its Applications". NRS. Retrieved 2025-08-26.
  12. ^ "Environmental Impact on GPS Quality". Locusview. 2025-04-08. Retrieved 2025-08-18.
  13. ^ IndoorTracking (2025-04-27). "The Future of Indoor Navigation: Beyond GPS". Indoor Tracking. Retrieved 2025-08-18.
  14. ^ Hughes, Matthew (2020-07-06). "Can Law Enforcement Really Track Someone Down with an IP Address?". How-To Geek. Retrieved 2025-08-24.
  15. ^ "The Role of IP Geolocation in Digital Marketing Strategies". www.iplocation.net. Retrieved 2025-08-24.
  16. ^ "The importance of solid geolocation services in the online gaming industry: enhancing compliance, revenue, security — and brand". IMGL. Retrieved 2025-08-24.
  17. ^ "Top Use Cases for IP Geolocation in Business Operations". locanium.com. Retrieved 2025-08-24.
  18. ^ Plaintiff: Coalition for Sexual Freedom and the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom Foundation, Defendant: US Attorney General John Ashcroft and the United States of America (2003-11-10). "Nitke vs. Ashcroft - Expert report of Seth Finkelstein". Retrieved 2004-11-15.
  19. ^ RealNetworks detects proxies and anonymizers; Google serves non-localized content if ___location is in doubt. "Geolocation: Don't Fence Web In". Wired. 2004-07-12. Archived from the original on 2006-05-14.
  20. ^ "Digital Envoy wins Geotargeting Patent". 2004-06-29. Archived from the original on June 17, 2011. Retrieved 2010-04-19.
  21. ^ "ClientSideNews, Nov/Dec 2010 issue, Page 6 "You Can Really Do That? – The Power of Geolocation Technology"" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-13. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
  22. ^ Marketing Magazine, February 10, 2011 “Thetrainline brings Digital Element on board for localised ad task”
  23. ^ Music Streaming site we7 Cranks up the Volume for Digital Rights Management and Ad Targeting Archived 2010-12-06 at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ King, Kevin F. (2009-10-04). "Geolocation and Federalism on the Internet: Cutting Internet Gambling's Gordian Knot". SSRN 1433634. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  25. ^ "FCC Strengthens Enhanced 911 Location Accuracy Requirements for Wireless Services" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 11, 2011. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  26. ^ Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney, Wendy Segall Hides Evidence.[dead link]
  27. ^ Vacca, John R. (2003). Identity Theft. Prentice Hall Professional. p. 400. ISBN 9780130082756.
  28. ^ Barba, Robert (2017-11-18). "Sharing your ___location with your bank seems creepy, but it's useful". The Morning Call. Archived from the original on 2018-01-11. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  29. ^ Internet Retailer “Personalized web site content gives retailers an edge’, June 25, 2010
  30. ^ "CinemaNow appeases studios by locating Web surfers". CNet. 2001-02-26. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  31. ^ "Geolocation: Don't Fence Web In". Wired News. Associated Press. 2004-07-12. Archived from the original on 2006-09-09. Retrieved 2006-09-28.
  32. ^ Trimble, Marketa. "The future of cybertravel: legal implications of the evasion of geolocation". Fordham Intell.
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