In computing, Internet geolocation is software capable of deducing the geographic position of a device connected to the Internet. For example, the device's IP address can be used to determine the country, city, or ZIP code, determining its geographical location. Other methods include examination of

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

hotspots.

Data sources

An IP address is assigned to each device (e.g. computer, printer) participating in a computer network that uses the

Internet Protocol The Internet Protocol (IP) is the network layer communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying datagrams across network boundaries. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet. IP ...

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 Routing is the process of selecting a path for traffic in a Network theory, network or between or across multiple networks. Broadly, routing is performed in many types of networks, including circuit-switched networks, such as the public switched ...

, 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 filter out or identify anomalies. * Statistical analysis of user submitted data. * Utilizing third-party tests conducted by reputable organizations.

Errors

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

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. Technical measures for ensuring

anonymity Anonymity describes situations where the acting person's identity is unknown. Anonymity may be created unintentionally through the loss of identifying information due to the passage of time or a destructive event, or intentionally if a person cho ...

, 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.

Applications

Geolocation technology has been under development only since 1999, and the first patents were granted in 2004. The technology is already widely used in multiple industries, including e-retail, banking, media, telecommunications, education, travel,Marketing Magazine, February 10, 2011 “Thetrainline brings Digital Element on board for localised ad task”
/ref> hospitality, entertainment, health care, online gaming and law enforcement, for preventing online fraud, complying with regulations, managing digital rightsMusic Streaming site we7 Cranks up the Volume for Digital Rights Management and Ad Targeting
and serving targeted

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

content and pricing. Additionally, the U.S.

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) has proposed that geolocation software might be leveraged to support 9-1-1 location determination.

Criminal investigations

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 The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, United States Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade economic sanctions, ...

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 Identity theft, identity piracy or identity infringement occurs when someone uses another's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. ...

. Prosecutors often have the capability of determining the

IP address An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is assigned to a device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. IP addresses serve two main functions: network interface i ...

data necessary to link a computer to a crime.

Fraud detection

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. Banks can prevent " phishing" attacks,

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

and other security breaches by determining the user's location as part of the authentication process. Whois databases can also help verify

es and registrants. 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

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 An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build ...

(also referred to as "IP API" or "IP address geolocation API") may be tailored to provide the information that a certain user wants.Internet Retailer “Personalized web site content gives retailers an edge’, June 25, 2010
/ref>

Regional licensing

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

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. 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.

Gaming

A location-based game is a type of pervasive game for

smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...

s or other

mobile device A mobile device or handheld device is a computer small enough to hold and operate in hand. Mobile devices are typically battery-powered and possess a flat-panel display and one or more built-in input devices, such as a touchscreen or keypad. ...

s in which the

gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game. The term applies to both video games and Tabletop game, tabletop games. Gameplay is the connection between the player and the game, the player's overcoming of challenges, and t ...

evolves and progresses via a player's real-world location which is typically obtained by GPS functionality from the device.

Social networking

References

External links

Towards Street-Level Client-Independent IP Geolocation
Recent research paper explaining how to find a location from an IP address within 1 km
How accurate can IP Geolocation get?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geolocation Software Internet privacy software Business software *