What is GeoIP?
GeoIP^® is the proprietary technology that drives MaxMind's IP geolocation data and services. GeoIP provides businesses with a non-invasive way to determine geographical and other information about their Internet visitors in real-time. When a person visits your website, GeoIP can determine which country, region, city, postal code, area code the visitor is coming from. Furthermore, GeoIP can provide information such as longitude/latitude, connection speed, ISP, company name, domain name, and whether the IP address is an anonymous proxy or satellite provider.

How does GeoIP work?
The idea behind GeoIP is simple but the process is complex. We employ user-entered location data from sites that ask web visitors to provide their geographic location. We then run millions of these datasets through a series of algorithms that identify, extract, and extrapolate location points for IP addresses.

What can GeoIP be used for?
To name a few applications, GeoIP can be used for delivering customized content, targeted ads, web log statistics, digital rights management, and regulatory compliance. In fact, you may already be using GeoIP without realizing it. MaxMind's GeoIP technology has been integrated by many of our partners for ad-serving, fraud screening, web analytics, firewall/spam protection, and anti-phishing/anti-identity theft applications.