Google Map in IP Address

[Tom]

This is kinda cool -- enter an IP address and it gives you a Google map showing where it's located. It doesn't appear to be street-level accurate (it's a few thousand feet off for FQ's location), but still pretty cool:

http://www.ip-adress.com
(note the missing "d" in address)

Only unusual one I've found so far is that all of AOL's brands--even Netscape--appear in a cornfield in Kansas(?!)

[Andilinks]

It seems to be dead at the moment, but yes this is a cool idea.

Years ago Zone alarm had a feature that identified the location of rogue intruders with a map, no doubt much more primitive than this (when I get to see it) but I've missed that feature since they stopped it.

[DogAndPony]

Hmmm... According to this service--

I am dead and buried in the Rosedale Cemetery near downtown Los Angeles.

Maybe I should notify my next of kin that I've moved on.

:ytangel:

[Andilinks]

It's working for me now, and they got me in the right town, wrong neighborhood. I'm still impressed.

I am dead and buried in the Rosedale Cemetery near downtown Los Angeles.Well no, you might be sitting on a headstone surfing on your laptop. Odd, but better than being dead and buried. :)

[sheila]

Look, if they are getting the right city/town, that is fully impressive.

I wish it would load for me. Unfortunately, I'm having no luck. :(

[DogAndPony]

Look, if they are getting the right city/town, that is fully impressive.True, that's not bad at all... Although it does make me wonder about people who are coming in from some IP block that's been bought and sold recently. And then there are ranges that belong to some big company. IIRC, past services used to place all IP numbers for some big company where their corporate HQ is; like Verio in Colorado. Didn't do that with Speakeasy, obviously.I wish it would load for me. Unfortunately, I'm having no luck. :(Mucho bummero!

[Mandi]

We just got a new broadband provider, due to selling/acquisition of our cable company. I assume that's behind the news that my IP puts me over 1,700 miles from my actual location, LOL . . .

[Andilinks]

Yes, several months back Comcast changed my IP address and for the first few months it registered as Cherry Hill NJ.

The Google local ads served that and I was invited to order pizza online from New Jersey. My guess is it would have arrived cold. :)

[Randall]

Look, if they are getting the right city/town, that is fully impressive. Indeed. Not only did they get the town right, but they put me in the right general neighborhood.

So ... how do they do this? They say it's built from a database, but where did the data come from in the first place? They'd have to know something about how SBC assigns its IP addresses -- the hostname my IP resolves to doesn't give any hints about location.

It's a dynamic IP, so they must be assigning a certain range to each DSLAM (presumably that's what the point on the map represents). Interesting.

Randall

[DogAndPony]

They say it's built from a database, but where did the data come from in the first place?The only thing I can think of is that the local telcos are willing to share the location of the associated CO for individual IP blocks for the last-mile services they provide, or the ISPs are willing to share IPs and the address of each local CO.

Which makes me think that a truly paranoid person might see this as a Homeland Security issue...

[Randall]

It's a dynamic IP, so they must be assigning a certain range to each DSLAM Well, maybe it's not that simple. Checking the IPs for my day jobs, which are also on SBC DSL lines, it gives me locations that are several towns away (in two different directions). Not even close. :ytthink: The only thing I can think of is that the local telcos are willing to share the location of the associated CO for individual IP blocks for the last-mile services they provide, or the ISPs are willing to share IPs and the address of each local CO. Could be. Might be some some sort of regulatory reasoning behind it.

But seeing how I got three vastly different results from the same ISP, the first one may have been dumb luck. Or else they're wildly inconsistent across the state.

Guess I'll have to to check up on this periodically, to see if I get different answers.

Randall

[Andilinks]

DNS Stuff has me listed as near Albuquerque (260 miles off), Domain Tools has put me there also but isn't working at the moment.

ip-adress.com has me exactly half a mile from the interstate (precise) but 2.5 miles too far south. Not enough to harm me from a Homeland Security POV unless they're lobbing nukes. I do annoy Iran and China from time to time but I'm hardly worth a nuke...

[Snarpy]

The page doesn't come up in Opera, but it works in Firefox.

How are you measuring distances, Andi? I don't see a scale. They have me 2 to 3 miles too far west. I get my internet via wireless (now that the ice has thawed enough), and I suspect that might be the location of the tower.

[Andilinks]

How are you measuring distances, Andi?Good. I love maps, spacial awareness. I'm about 2200 feet from the freeway, I can see it but not hear it indoors. I just eyeballed the other distance, I didn't think I needed a precise figure there, it may be less accurate.

[Randall]

I just eyeballed the other distance 2200 feet? My eyeballs can't handle distances much longer than an inch.

When I have time to sit down and figure out the calculations, I'll be measuring some distances considerably longer than an inch, just for fun ... but with a GPS-equipped cellphone, not my eyeballs.

Randall

[Andilinks]

2200 feet?No, the y coordinate 2.5 miles--on the map, which was several times the length of the x coordinate.

I estimated the multiple by looking at the ratio of two distances, one of which (2200 ft.) I had measured on a map that does have a scale.

In other words eyeballing is estimating by doing a spacial comparison of one known distance against another unknown distance mentally.

Much like flying by the seat of your pants, haven't you ever done that?

[Wassercrats]

About five miles off for me.

[Mandi]

Well, this morning it got me very close, within a mile or two I'd say. (I live on a military base, and it put me RIGHT along the outside of edge of it - they may not be designed to resolve inside the base . . . it's grayed out on Google Maps.) Perhaps it was a propagation thing with the new provider.

[Randall]

Today they've got me on the campus of Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford -- 6.5642 miles away, according to the GMaps Pedometer (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com).

I don't do prep schools. :blah:

Seems safe to assume that Sunday's near-bullseye was a fluke. Perhaps it was an accurate position for the IP address I had at the time ... but then I don't see much rhyme or reason to the IPs that they're giving us, so it's a moot point. :dunno:

Randall