Find What is IP Geolocation API, Its Uses & Functionalities

Find What is IP Geolocation API, Its Uses & Functionalities

Written by Sophie Robertson, In Technology, Updated On
December 27th, 2023
, 289 Views

What is IP Geolocation Used For?

Did you know that it is very easy to get the location data of a device connected to the internet with the help of its IP address? Understanding users’ geographical location is paramount for businesses, developers, and organizations striving to improve user experiences, reinforce security measures, and streamline their operations.

This is precisely where the IP Geolocation API  emerges as a potent tool, offering invaluable insights rooted in location. Read on to find out all about IP Geolocation,  its functions, applications, and advantages.

What Is An IP Geolocation?

The IP Geolocation is a process that allows you to authenticate the geographic whereabouts of a device or user based on their IP address. Each device connected to the internet has a distinct IP address, effectively serving as its digital identifier.

By examining this IP address, the IP Geolocation can pinpoint the user’s approximate location, encompassing details such as their country, city, region, latitude, and longitude.

How does IP Geolocation Work?

IP Geolocation works by cross-referencing the user’s IP address with an extensive database of IP-to-location correlations. This database contains records of IP addresses by location. When a request is submitted, it queries this database and retrieves the corresponding location data.

How Accurate is IP Geolocation?

Although IP Geolocation is typically reliable, it might not consistently provide an exact user location. Various factors, including the use of proxy servers, mobile networks, and VPNs, can influence its precision. Nonetheless, contemporary IP Geolocation services continually refine their databases to improve accuracy.

What Can You Do With IP Geolocation?

Improving User Experiences With Website Localization

One of the primary applications of IP Geolocation revolves around customizing user experiences. Websites and applications can use this technology to tailor content and offerings to the user’s location. For instance, an e-commerce platform can display prices in the user’s local currency or offer location-specific recommendations.

Content Personalization

Marketers can geolocate IP addresses to target their audience finely. Armed with the knowledge of a user’s location, businesses can deploy geographically personalized content and promotions, enhancing their marketing endeavours’ effectiveness.

Establishing Geofences For Improved Tracking

The IP Geolocation plays a pivotal role in creating geofences and virtual boundaries around physical locations. This functionality proves invaluable for applications such as location-based notifications, asset tracking, and security enhancement by triggering alerts when a device enters or exits a designated area.

Online Fraud Detection

Efficient detection of fraudulent activities becomes possible through IP Geolocation. Suspicious logins or transactions originating from unfamiliar locations can be flagged and subjected to additional security protocols.

What Is An IP Geolocation API?

The IP Geolocation API is the technology that takes an IP address and provides you with details like the country, city, region, latitude, and longitude of the device. It simplifies the process of IP geolocation, and you can easily integrate it into your website and products.

Next, let’s talk about the best IP geolocation API available on the market.

What Are The Best IP Geolocation APIs Available In The Market?

  • IPStack

ipstack

Regarding the best IP Geolocation API in the market, Ipstack checks all the boxes. Ipstack is a leading geolocation API and global IP database service provider. Let’s discuss why you should choose ipstack over other API providers.

Features

  • Precise and Comprehensive Information
  • Support for IPv4 and IPv6 Addresses 
  • Security Module
  • Time Zone Module 
  • Currency Module 
  • Connection Module
  • Bulk Lookup 

Pricing 

  • Free: access to 1000 requests/ month and access to the location module.
  • Basic: Starting at $11.99, 50,000 monthly requests and supports standard lookup, location module, SSL encryption, Currency Module, Time Zone Module, and Connection Module.
  • Professional: At $52.99 with 500,000 monthly requests as the Basic plan + bulk lookup.
  • Professional Plus: Starts at $84.99 and delivers 2,000,000 monthly requests + all the features of the Professional plan + Security Module for enhanced protection.
  • Enterprise: If you or your company require a specific request volume, then the ipstacks Enterprise plan is for you. It offers flexibility and premium support.
  • PositionStack

PositionStack

Positionstack stands out as an exceptional geolocation API. Its capabilities encompass both forward and reverse batch geocoding and the dynamic setup of coordinates in real time. This empowers you to swiftly access geolocation information for any given address, ensuring real-time accuracy.

Features

  • Support for embeddable maps.
  • Supports multiple formats, including JSON, XML, and GeoJSON
  • Scalability and reliability

Pricing

  • Free: $0 per month
  • Basic: $9.99 per month
  • Professional: $49.99 per month
  • Business: $99.99 per month
  • Enterprise: Custom Pricing
  • Ipapi

Ipapi

Ipapi is a robust and scalable IP Geolocation API. Its precision in pinpointing users based on both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses is unparalleled. Ipapi ensures a continuous supply of top-tier IP data with established, long-standing partnerships with ISP providers.

Features

  • Exceptionally straightforward
  • Support for JSON and XML formats,
  • Provides details like city, country, ISP, and more.

Pricing

  • Free: $0 per month
  • Standard: $10 per month
  • Business: $50 per month
  • Business Pro: $100 per month
  • Enterprise: Custom Pricing

How Can you Integrate IP Geolocation in your Website?

You can seamlessly incorporate IP geolocation services into various programming languages. This section will guide you on integrating the IP Geolocation API with JavaScript. You’ll need to obtain an API key to make the most of the data provided by the API in your JavaScript programming. Here’s how to get started:

NOTE- For testing purposes, we are using IP Geolocation API

  // set endpoint and your access key
var ip = ‘134.201.250.155’
var access_key = ‘YOUR_API_KEY’;// get the API result via jQuery.ajax
$.ajax({
url: ‘http://api.ipstack.com/’ + ip + ‘?access_key=’ + access_key,
dataType: ‘jsonp’,
success: function(json) {// output the “capital” object inside “location”
alert(json.location.capital);}
});

You can replace ‘YOUR_API_KEY’ with your actual API key in the designated field, and then proceed to run the application. Once you’ve done that, your response will look something like this:

{
“ip”: “134.201.250.155”,
“type”: “ipv4”,
“continent_code”: “NA”,
“continent_name”: “North America”,
“country_code”: “US”,
“country_name”: “United States”,
“region_code”: “CA”,
“region_name”: “California”,
“city”: “Los Angeles”,
“zip”: “90012”,
“latitude”: 34.0655517578125,
“longitude”: -118.24053955078125,
“location”: {
“geoname_id”: 5368361,
“capital”: “Washington D.C.”,
“languages”: [
{
“code”: “en”,
“name”: “English”,
“native”: “English”
}
],
“country_flag”: “https://assets.ipstack.com/flags/us.svg”,
“country_flag_emoji”: “\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8”,
“country_flag_emoji_unicode”: “U+1F1FA U+1F1F8”,
“calling_code”: “1”,
“is_eu”: false
},
“time_zone”: {
“id”: “America/Los_Angeles”,
“current_time”: “2023-03-03T05:45:52-08:00”,
“gmt_offset”: -28800,
“code”: “PST”,
“is_daylight_saving”: false
},
“currency”: {
“code”: “USD”,
“name”: “US Dollar”,
“plural”: “US dollars”,
“symbol”: “$”,
“symbol_native”: “$”
},
“connection”: {
“asn”: 25876,
“isp”: “Los Angeles Department of Water & Power”
},
“security”: {
“is_proxy”: false,
“proxy_type”: null,
“is_crawler”: false,
“crawler_name”: null,
“crawler_type”: null,
“is_tor”: false,
“threat_level”: “low”,
“threat_types”: null
}

Conclusion

IP Geolocation empowers businesses to deliver tailored content and services to users, enhancing user satisfaction and boosting business efficiency. Whether you’re a marketer, developer, or business owner, embracing IP Geolocation can take your online presence to the next level.

FAQs

What is the IP geolocation API?

The IP Geolocation API is a technology that allows you to authenticate the geographic whereabouts of a device or user based on their IP address. Geolocation API can provide data like country, city, region, latitude, and longitude of a device.

Is there any free geolocation API?

Yes, ipstack offers a free plan that gives you access to 1000 API calls per month. It is ideal if you want to try out the API first before purchasing any plan.

What is the best IP geolocation API?

Here are our picks for the best IP geolocation APIs:

  1. Positionstack
  2. Ipapi
  3. Abstract’s IP Geolocation API
  4. Maxmind
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