Batch IP Locator

Making sense of IP addresses

What is an IP address? It's basically how the "internet" knows where you are. For example, I am reasonably confident that you're now using a computer in or near . How do I know that? Your IP address (yours is 38.107.191.91 btw) lets the network know where you are, and that's how all those websites can track your visitors, etc. But they don't locate (read: geocode) existing lists of IP addresses. Actually, I couldn't find a service that would locate more than one IP address at a time for free. So I made one.

We're in beta right now. Let me know any problems you run into or suggestions, via the nifty feedback box.

Accuracy - Do you really know where I am?

Yes, and no. You may have noticed back on the home page that the location displayed on the map was slightly off, perhaps in the same county but in the adjacent city. The two main reasons for this are the nature of the database used and the fluidity of IP addresses (proxies)

This site will drill down your location to the city level for anywhere in the US, and either city or regional level for the all other countries. The database used on this site is GeoLite City, which is freely available from MaxMind.com. In terms of accuracy, GeoLite is approximately 98% on the country level and 70% on the city level. This leads to slight differences in the city-level location of an IP address

The second reason is due to proxies and anonymous IP addresses. Without going into all the juicy details about how to mask your IP address, let me just say that this or any IP location service is only as honest as your users. As some so adamantly claim, IP addresses are basically a variable that can be manipulated or masked. However, this does not mean that every (or even most!) visitor to your site will be manipulating or masking their IPs - in reality, very few do. Tracking IP addresses is still the best way to get a geographical footprint of each visitor and therefore base site content, marketing strategies and services on your target audience. And, like in every audience, you will have a handful that pose to be someone else. This is not statistically significant in regards to the benefit you will gain from evaluating your audience as a whole.