Geographical Information

Article ID: 33

Created On: 22 Dec 2004

Author: Joshua Johanson

Edited On: 06 Jan 2005

Edited By: Joshua Johanson

The information WebSTAT has for cities, states, and countries come from the visitor's browsers, specifically the IP address. These IP addresses belong to the visitors ISPs (Internet Service Providers). That means we have to rely on information reported by the ISPs (which can be incorrect sometimes) to ICANN. Regional ISPs normally register themselves as coming only from a larger metropolis, even though they serve many smaller communities surrounding the metropolis. Other large ISPs, such as AOL, will only report themselves coming only from a handful of cities across the country, even though they serve the entire country. The information on the ISP could also just be outdated. Due to mergers, acquisitions, and other business actions, the information reported by ISPs can be out of date for months or even years in certain cases. In conclusion, there is no way to get geographical information that is 100% accurate. We have to rely on self-reported information, which is prone to inaccuracies. However, most self-reported information is correct or very close to correct. Rarely will we report the wrong region or country for example.