Many applications require the association of Internet numbering resources with an accurate geographic label at some granularity. For some applications, knowing the country of origin might be sufficient; for others a more precise indication at state, city or zip code granularity, or even a specific latitude/longitude is needed.

However, which method(s) work best? Which database sources and services are most reliable, at what geographic resolutions? If a data source provides the geographic location of the owner of an IP address, is this location the same as the location where the device is actually broadcasting and receiving packets? And, if different, can the difference be quantified?

As part of our effort to compare IP geolocation tools, we conducted a literature search and created an annotated bibliography of papers and data sets related to the field of Internet Protocol (IP) address geolocation. We include a list of useful definitions, categorized papers, and some discussion of the state-of-the-art. We are still working on a paper that quantitatively compares the granularity and agreement among several available services; we will link to the paper here when published.

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