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Looking for a way to get precise location of an IP address, including those owned by big corps. For instance, the address 209.85.251.40 is owned by Google and most Geo-IP tools show Mountain view, but I don't think that is the case - this is the first IP address that you see after you get out of Spain while accessing a youtube video (I'm running traceroute from Barcelona).

Any ideas?

IP_noob
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  • Hmmm. I see. Thanks for the replies. My basic problem is to see where is the nearest CDN node that Youtube uses. One can traceroute to the address given in the youtube video link, but that leads to the Mountainview address. Clearly, not right. – IP_noob Nov 15 '10 at 15:33

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Yeah, give up on unrealistic ideas. YOu dont know because noone knows. And the data can change (dynamic ip addresses asigned tio dial i ncustomers - where do THEY reside?).

Only google knows how their internal network is exactly steructured. What you see is the registered address for the block.

TomTom
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    Additionally, it could be a risk to expose that much detail of the internal network to everyone. Google doesn't gain anything by detailing their network to the public, but could stand to lose privacy/security/etc. Some websites are tagged with the ICBM meta, that's the best you'll get, and there's still no guarantees of accuracy. – Chris S Nov 15 '10 at 14:24
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As TomTom says, there are no reliable methods for doing geolocation by IP address, because IP addresses fundamentally don't map to physical locations.

For an individual user/small business at an ISP, the best you can hope for is to get their area by location of the nearest "point of presence" for their ISP, which will probably mean the local exchange for most cable/ADSL customers.

For businesses, the best you can hope for is to get the location of (one of) their gateways to the internet, which might or might not have anything to do with the location of the person sitting tapping away on their keyboard interacting with your site.

Rob Moir
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