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Show HN: A New, Clean Geolocation API

ipdata.co

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Re: Show HN: A New, Clean Geolocation API

#101

Post by linkmotif »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #60

> Get the following datapoints from any IP address; Again :-( I just wonder if people will ever stop making assumptions about others given their IP address or hair colours and divide the Internet on these slippery grounds. The only legitimate and valid way to determine the client's location automatically is the browser or the OS geolocation API, and for the language it is the HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE header. The fact I h…

This just is not reality.

It’s funny... Google says this same thing publicly on their various webmaster blogs, but you know how Google Analytics determines your location? Your IP.

Re: Show HN: A New, Clean Geolocation API

#102

Post by endless1234 »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #64
cdancette wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True but for most users it's enough. And it's sometimes the only information they have if the geolocation api doesn't give them anything.

If the geolocation api doesn't give anything - that probably means the user has chosen to configure it this way because they don't want to share their location. You should probably ask them in case you actually need to know where they are.

If one is not even allowed to guess with the user's IP the language this should be asked in, should the first question be some kind language selection form with just pictograms in it? :-)

Re: Show HN: A New, Clean Geolocation API

#103

Post by AFNobody »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #60

> Get the following datapoints from any IP address; Again :-( I just wonder if people will ever stop making assumptions about others given their IP address or hair colours and divide the Internet on these slippery grounds. The only legitimate and valid way to determine the client's location automatically is the browser or the OS geolocation API, and for the language it is the HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE header. The fact I h…

To be honest, this is (usually) only used for geotargeting the nearest Anycast address (or Unicast address if you are too small to operate a GeoDNS->Anycast setup). Well, that, and anti-fraud measures to flag transactions for additional verification.

People who are using it for real-world-location and language detection are doing it wrong but being wrong on the internet is a common problem. :/

Re: Show HN: A New, Clean Geolocation API

#104

Post by codefined »

duiker101 wrote: post #91
qwerty456127 wrote: post #60

> Get the following datapoints from any IP address; Again :-( I just wonder if people will ever stop making assumptions about others given their IP address or hair colours and divide the Internet on these slippery grounds. The only legitimate and valid way to determine the client's location automatically is the browser or the OS geolocation API, and for the language it is the HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE header. The fact I h…

Believe it or not, you make up about 0.000001%[1] of the internet users. There is no saying in what this can be applied, it doesn't have to be for language or anything like that. It doesn't even have to be anything customer facing, and if it's just some stats you will probably probably just be a bit of noise. Don't get me wrong. I totally agree that this thing is definitely not accurate(it thinks i'm 1300mi away) but…

I think the issue is that with the rise of VPNs, you're now looking at >1% of users being from a mislabelled country.

Re: Show HN: A New, Clean Geolocation API

#105

Post by ksenzee »

stedaniels wrote: post #93
qwerty456127 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the geolocation api doesn't give anything - that probably means the user has chosen to configure it this way because they don't want to share their location. You should probably ask them in case you actually need to know where they are.

True. But what language should you ask them in? Correctly assuming some details improves the UX for the many.

You should ask them in whatever language their Accept-Language HTTP header specifies. If there isn't one, then ok, maybe look at their IP. But it makes no sense to treat the IP as a more valuable source of information than the HTTP header that's there for exactly this purpose.

Re: Show HN: A New, Clean Geolocation API

#106

Post by mirimir »

codefined wrote: post #104
duiker101 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Believe it or not, you make up about 0.000001%[1] of the internet users. There is no saying in what this can be applied, it doesn't have to be for language or anything like that. It doesn't even have to be anything customer facing, and if it's just some stats you will probably probably just be a bit of noise. Don't get me wrong. I totally agree that this thing is definitely not accurate(it thinks i'm 1300mi away) but…

I think the issue is that with the rise of VPNs, you're now looking at >1% of users being from a mislabelled country.

It's more than that, for some countries.

Re: Show HN: A New, Clean Geolocation API

#107

Post by qwerty456127 »

ksenzee wrote: post #105
stedaniels wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. But what language should you ask them in? Correctly assuming some details improves the UX for the many.

You should ask them in whatever language their Accept-Language HTTP header specifies. If there isn't one, then ok, maybe look at their IP. But it makes no sense to treat the IP as a more valuable source of information than the HTTP header that's there for exactly this purpose.

If there isn't one (which is rather improbable - AFAIK all the browsers have it set by default), then it should be either English or both English and the language assumed given the IP address.

Re: Show HN: A New, Clean Geolocation API

#108

Post by styfle »

How accurate can you get with an IP address? I seems like it could act as a fallback if the geolocation web api is blocked.

I have a side project[0] that uses the geolocation api to post to Slack and seems to be pretty accurate, even on mobile. Maybe I'll try this as a fallback.

[0]: https://github.com/styfle/geoslack

Re: Show HN: A New, Clean Geolocation API

#109

Post by qwerty456127 »

linkmotif wrote: post #101
qwerty456127 wrote: post #60

> Get the following datapoints from any IP address; Again :-( I just wonder if people will ever stop making assumptions about others given their IP address or hair colours and divide the Internet on these slippery grounds. The only legitimate and valid way to determine the client's location automatically is the browser or the OS geolocation API, and for the language it is the HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE header. The fact I h…

This just is not reality. It’s funny... Google says this same thing publicly on their various webmaster blogs, but you know how Google Analytics determines your location? Your IP.

This can be considered a reasonable way when it's about statistics rather than about an individual user experience.

Re: Show HN: A New, Clean Geolocation API

#110

Post by jonathan-kosgei »

cmg wrote: post #95
jonathan-kosgei wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point, I think there's another way we could do it. Let me fix that.

You actually have good language right on your /faq.html page that should address this. >Yes, send an email to support@ipdata.co requesting the change. You will receive a link from where you'll be able to securely update your details.

Fixed the front page.
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