How it works
Service providers and hosting companies register their IP address blocks with regional registries, often with an approximate location (country, region, sometimes city). Commercial databases cross-reference this information to estimate, from an IP address, a probable geographic area — this is what Get My Public IP queries to display a map.
Accuracy and limits
IP geolocation generally gets the right country and often the right region, but rarely the exact address: it frequently points to the service provider's headquarters or a nearby network node, not your precise home. Static IPs are generally located more accurately than dynamic IPs, whose blocks change assignment area more often.
IP or HTML5: two different methods
Get My Public IP also offers HTML5 geolocation, based on your device's GPS and Wi-Fi (with your permission): far more precise, but it only works for your own location, not for a third-party IP.
IP geolocation
- Works for any IP address
- Accuracy: city or region
- No permission required
HTML5 geolocation
- Only for your own location
- Accuracy: a few metres
- Requires your permission on every visit
Ready to give it a try?
Get my precise location