Understanding IP geolocation accuracy: a detailed look
It's a common and fundamental misunderstanding that IP geolocation is designed to reveal the precise physical location or street address of a person. In reality, IP geolocation accuracy is not about pinpointing an individual's residence, but rather about associating an IP address with a broader geographic region. This article breaks down the key concepts to provide a clear, educational perspective on its capabilities and limitations.
The tiered approach to accuracy
The accuracy of IP geolocation is not a single, fixed number. It varies significantly depending on the level of granularity you need. Think of it as a set of concentric circles: the closer you get to a specific point, the less certain the location becomes.
Country level accuracy is generally very high, exceeding 99%, especially when excluding VPN usage. This is because large blocks of IP addresses are assigned to specific ISPs by regional internet registries, and ISPs typically serve one country. IP geolocation data providers may also validate country-level location with traceroutes and proprietary data about where networks are actually in use. These stronger data signals are almost always enough to validate the location of a network at the country level.
State or province administrative subdivision is less precise, typically ranging from 55% to 80%, depending on the country.
City level accuracy is where the precision drops further, with typical accuracy rates of 20% to 75%. There's often a higher level of accuracy for larger, more densely populated cities, especially on networks that provide residential internet service.
The "accuracy radius" defines a circular area where the geolocated IP address is likely to be located. This concept moves the focus from pinpointing a precise point to identifying a probable region.
Key challenges to IP geolocation accuracy
Mobile networks: Geolocation for mobile devices typically resolves to a broad region, sometimes spanning multiple subdivisions, rather than a specific city or postal code. This is due to cellular providers' network allocation practices, in which an IP address may move between users who are hundreds of kilometers away from each other over the course of even a few minutes.
Satellite and next-gen networks: Satellite networks are a mixed bag in terms of how accurately they can be geolocated. Sophisticated network operators like Amazon Leo and SpaceX Starlink have systems in place to route traffic reliably, while the practices of smaller or less established network operators vary widely, making geolocation even at the country-level more challenging.
Proxies, VPNs, and anonymizers: Services like Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and proxies intentionally mask a user's true IP address. In these cases, the geolocated IP address belongs to the proxy or VPN server, which could be in a completely different city or country, making the user's real location untraceable.
Corporate and enterprise infrastructure: Corporate networks may be used for hosting, access to secure digital resources, and internet access for employees. Behavioral signals of geolocation may be less relevant for these networks as employees access networks from their homes and while traveling. Understanding this context is essential to providing the best geolocation for these networks.
Consumer privacy networks: Consumer privacy networks like Apple's iCloud Private Relay and Google's VPN provide anonymizing services without allowing geolocation spoofing. This means that the users of the networks should be in the general geographic region where the IP address is located even though they're using a proxy. MaxMind validates the regions reported by consumer privacy network providers using proprietary behavioral signals.
Why IP geolocation isn't like GPS-based opt-in geolocation
Unlike GPS, which relies on satellite signals to pinpoint a device's exact location, IP geolocation is an inferential process. It is "part art, part science," piecing together clues from various sources to form a location estimate. IP geolocation offers a privacy-preserving alternative to methods that don't require user consent to access GPS location. It has the ability to provide a comprehensive set of location signals that are available to estimate a probable location.
IP geolocation is a powerful and valuable tool for a wide range of applications, including content localization, fraud detection, and network security. However, it is crucial to understand that it provides an approximate location, not a precise one. Recognizing the factors that influence accuracy, from the tiered nature of location data to the complexities of modern network infrastructure, is key to using the technology effectively and responsibly.