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Server log files

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2004 4:40 am
by JayBird
I was just wondering. When analyzing server log files, it gives lots of nice information including the countries of the users.

Is this the country of origin of the actual user or the ISP they are using?

From my logs, it looks like anyone using AOL is classed as "from US".

Basically, i want to know how accurate this country detection is?

Also, the analyzer i am using reports the most active cities. Again, is this where the user lives, or where the ISP is situated? How is it determined?

The city that tops nearly all the log files for all my sites is "Sterling, Illinois, United States". Why is this? what is there?

Thanks

Mark

Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2004 4:59 am
by kettle_drum
Although not 100% accurate, the IP-to-Country Database is about 98% accurate on country recognition. The main reasons for this lie in the existence of dynamic IP addresses and Internet access through proxy servers. Also, it should be noted that the IP-to-Country Database seeks to indicate the country where resources were first allocated or assigned and are not an authoritative statement of the location in which any specific resource may currently be in use. These cases are very difficult and sometimes impossible to map. However at this moment the IP-to-Country Database is by far the most accurate way to determine the location of Internet users in real-time.