IP API Geolocating, the brief - PHP Geo Location by Internet Protocol API package blog

The Internet protocol (IP) number is a unique number assigned to a computer on the Internet. This represent the address that data is sent from and where responses need to be returned to.

There are two standards currently being used IPv4 (version 4) and IPv6 (version 6). An IPv4 address will look something like 161.185.160.93 and an IPv6 will look like FE80:CD00:0000:0CDE:1257:0000:211E:729C. As the Internet became more and more popular, all the IPv4 addresses started getting used so the IPv6 standard was developed to provide enough addresses for everyone.

What is geolocating?

Geographical locating uses an IP number to determine where in the world the computer assigned that address is located. When talking about your typical user surfing the Internet from their home, they access the Internet through an Internet Service Provider (ISP) who has been assigned a block of IP numbers where one of those is assigned to the modem making the connection.

There are large databases which are constantly being updated with the geographical location of these computers so that data traffic can be directed to and from an address on the shortest path possible.

API Layer provides a service to access this data called the IP API.

What can I get for free?

You can get 10,000 request per month for location data, absolutely free. All you need to do is sign up for an access key. The location data for IP 161.185.160.93 consists of:

Continent: North America
Country: Unites States
Region (aka State): New York
City: Brooklyn
Postal Code (aka Zip code): 11238
Latitude: 40.676
Longitude: -73.9629
Capital (Country): Washington D.C.
Language(s): English
Flag: US
International Calling Code: 1

Is there more information available?

There is in premium plans, for as little as $8 a month you can also get more requests per month and...

Time Zone data which includes the standard ID, current time, offset from GMT, zone code and whether it is using daylight savings time.

Currency data which includes the currency code, name and symbol.

Connection data with will be the host or ISP assigned the IP block.

The IP API also has an advanced security lookup feature available on the professional level that will let you know if the IP number is a known proxy (a computer routing its data through another computer), a crawler/bot (computer crawling the Internet without a human) and if there is a threat associated with the address.