IP addresses are a numerical address that is assigned to every device on the internet. This number identifies the device and its location. IP addresses are important because they allow information to be sent from one computer to another. A typical IP address looks something like this: 192.168.1.1 Let’s take a look at how you can use an IP address geolocation API in your business.
What Is an IP Address Geolocation API?
An IP address geolocation API allows you to use an IP address as input and find out where it’s located. This information can be useful for a range of purposes, such as targeted marketing, fraud protection, and content localization.
Checking the location of an IP address can be useful to you in many ways, including:
- Locating your users geographically, and tailoring your content to where they are from (think weather updates)
- Blocking unwanted traffic from certain locations or only allowing traffic from specific countries
- Fraud detection by determining if a credit card was stolen from another country
There are many choices in APIs out there, so we narrowed it down to our 3 favorite Geolocation APIs, to make choosing one easier.
1. ipXapi
ipXapi is a free website monitoring tool that also doubles as a smart geolocation and IP address detection tool. This service gives a high level of accuracy in IP statistics thanks to its database and API. It is connected to a number of well-known Internet service providers (ISPs) who provide regular updates on new and current IP ranges. The API’s database is updated daily, with up to 24 database revisions per day, because ipXapi is linked to numerous channels that offer real-time IP data.
It provides IP data such as ping response time and location, device type and connection speed, hostname resolution, DNS control, IP network access details, SSL certificate information, WHOIS name server lookup, and many more capabilities. You can look through its database at any time to receive a comprehensive picture of IP addresses, cities, and nations.
2. Google Maps Geocoding API
The Google Maps Geocoding API transforms addresses (like “1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA”) into geocodes (like 37.423021 and –122.083739). Developers can use the API to convert user-generated address inputs into geographic coordinates in a matter of seconds. Developers can also use this API to get the address of a given location ID. With Google APIs, a location ID is a one-of-a-kind identifier.
3. Telize
Developers can get visitor IP addresses and query location information from any IP address using API capabilities. Telize is a RESTful single-purpose API that employs an API Key and HTTP authentication. It accepts XML, JSONP, and URI Query String/CRUD requests in addition to XML answers.
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Also published on Medium.