What is an IP Address?

Every device on the Internet or a private computer network is assigned a unique identifier. Just as a home or office is assigned a unique mailing address to facilitate mail delivery, a computer has a unique identifier to facilitate the delivery of data. The Internet utilizes the TCP/IP protocol suite to route data to each Internet-connected device. TCP/IP uses IP addresses to uniquely identify each device.

There are two types of IP address: IPv4 and IPv6. IPv4 uses 32 binary bits to create a single unique address on the network. An IPv4 address is expressed in four-number dotted-decimal format (e.g. 192.168.125.20). Each segment is commonly referred to as an octet. IPv4 allows for approximately 4.3 billion addresses Internet-wide.

As the growth of the internet exploded, concerns about IPv4 exhaustion prompted the development of IPv6. IPv6 is a 128-bit address space that accommodates a theoretical maximum of about 340 undecillion addresses. The Internet now operates using both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses on the original TCP/IP protocol family.

Learn more about TCP/IP in this article Packets Across the Planet: The Legacy of TCP/IP →

What is IP Address Geolocation?

IP geolocation maps an IP address to the approximate physical location of the computer or device to which that address is assigned. By geographically mapping the IP address, it provides information such as country, state/region, city, postal code, latitude/longitude, ISP, and other related data.

How Does IP Geolocation Work?

An IP address is a sequence of numbers that uniquely identifies any Internet-connected device. The management of these numbers is critical to the functionality of the Internet. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) oversees the assignment of Internet IP addresses. ICANN assigns IP addresses to Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), which in turn assign them to Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

When an IP address is allocated by an ISP, the physical location of the endpoint is registered with the governing RIR. This data is stored in databases managed by organizations such as MaxMind, IP2Location, and others who make aggregated location data available.

Common Uses for IP Geolocation

• Understanding geographic distribution of website visitors for marketing and advertising targeting.
• Automatically selecting language or regional content based on visitor location.
• Helping identify the source of spam, abuse, or fraudulent activity (approximate area only).
• Compliance with regional content licensing or regulatory requirements.

Learn more about IP geolocation in this article Where in the World Is That IP? - The Science of Mapping the Internet to Real Places →