Re: How accurate is IP address / Geocode lookup?
Jeff Chastain wrote: > I have a client that is looking to ascertain the state ( or country if not > US based ) of the current visitor to their web site. One possibility has > been to use their IP address and a geocode lookup, which I have never done the location you often get is where the IP block owner is located. for country level, IP lookups are > 90% accurate (our geoLocator CFC stops at country/locale info). accuracy drops off the smaller the administrative unit you want to find, where the client is physically located (somebody along a state/province border could go either way) & the ISP involved (AOL is a famous extreme case where every user's state, etc. is "AOL" & satellite-based ISPs will also screw you up even at the country level). that said, if you're not using the location to deliver packages or drop bombs it's probably good enough, especially if you use a manual fallback mechanism. there's supposedly more accurate means of measuring where a given IP is physically located: http://www.sustainablegis.com/blog/cfg11n/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=831F21D5-20ED-7DEE-2AFB50CC1481BAC1 ~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:300139 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4
RE: How accurate is IP address / Geocode lookup?
I've used this product, integrates with CF, too: http://www.cyscape.com/products/chawk/ --- Ben -Original Message- From: Ben Doom [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 5:42 PM To: CF-Talk Subject: Re: How accurate is IP address / Geocode lookup? From what I understand, it's usually the ISP. However, it is often the last hop before the actual client, so it would only be inaccurate if, say, the person was in TN and the ISP was in KY. That said, at my last job, we were in KY, and we showed up as in (I think) PA, since that was where the router for static IPs was. Alltel was our ISP, IIRC. So it's a good approximation, but I would not rely on it for calculating sales tax. :-) --Doom Jeff Chastain wrote: > I have a client that is looking to ascertain the state ( or country if not > US based ) of the current visitor to their web site. One possibility has > been to use their IP address and a geocode lookup, which I have never done > before. So, how accurate is doing a geocode lookup based upon IP? Does it > really give the user's location or more often the ISP's location? > > > > Any feedback would be appreciated. > > > > Thanks. > > > > ~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:300138 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4
RE: How accurate is IP address / Geocode lookup?
Accurate as in at the state level within the US and from what you have said plus a few tests I have run, this does not seem to be the case. Thanks was what I needed. Thanks. -Original Message- From: Dae [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 4:41 PM To: CF-Talk Subject: Re: How accurate is IP address / Geocode lookup? I don't know what your idea of accurate is and I've never tested a large enough sample size to be sure, but I say it's not accurate. I say this because when I checked my IP address, it said I was in NJ. Grabbed another IP and it showed PA. I'm in MD. I checked a friends IP and it nailed him to his town. On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 5:28 PM, Jeff Chastain <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I have a client that is looking to ascertain the state ( or country if not > US based ) of the current visitor to their web site. One possibility has > been to use their IP address and a geocode lookup, which I have never done > before. So, how accurate is doing a geocode lookup based upon IP? Does > it > really give the user's location or more often the ISP's location? > > > > Any feedback would be appreciated. > > > > Thanks. > > > > ~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:300129 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4
Re: How accurate is IP address / Geocode lookup?
From what I understand, it's usually the ISP. However, it is often the last hop before the actual client, so it would only be inaccurate if, say, the person was in TN and the ISP was in KY. That said, at my last job, we were in KY, and we showed up as in (I think) PA, since that was where the router for static IPs was. Alltel was our ISP, IIRC. So it's a good approximation, but I would not rely on it for calculating sales tax. :-) --Doom Jeff Chastain wrote: > I have a client that is looking to ascertain the state ( or country if not > US based ) of the current visitor to their web site. One possibility has > been to use their IP address and a geocode lookup, which I have never done > before. So, how accurate is doing a geocode lookup based upon IP? Does it > really give the user's location or more often the ISP's location? > > > > Any feedback would be appreciated. > > > > Thanks. > > > > ~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:300128 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4
Re: How accurate is IP address / Geocode lookup?
I don't know what your idea of accurate is and I've never tested a large enough sample size to be sure, but I say it's not accurate. I say this because when I checked my IP address, it said I was in NJ. Grabbed another IP and it showed PA. I'm in MD. I checked a friends IP and it nailed him to his town. On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 5:28 PM, Jeff Chastain <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I have a client that is looking to ascertain the state ( or country if not > US based ) of the current visitor to their web site. One possibility has > been to use their IP address and a geocode lookup, which I have never done > before. So, how accurate is doing a geocode lookup based upon IP? Does > it > really give the user's location or more often the ISP's location? > > > > Any feedback would be appreciated. > > > > Thanks. > > > > ~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:300127 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4
