How We Build the Database

IP66 takes a fundamentally different approach to IP geolocation. Instead of relying on probes, heuristics, or machine learning models, we build our database exclusively from authoritative, public data sources — the same registries and routing systems that govern how the internet actually works.

Every record in our database can be traced back to an official source. No guessing, no inference.

Authoritative Data Sources

We collect data from the organizations that allocate and manage IP addresses globally:

Regional Internet Registries (RIRs)

The foundation of our database comes from all five Regional Internet Registries — AFRINIC, APNIC, ARIN, LACNIC, and RIPE NCC. These are the organizations that allocate IP address blocks to ISPs and organizations worldwide. Their delegation files tell us which country each IP block was originally allocated to.

BGP Routing Data

We ingest BGP routing tables from public route collectors including RouteViews and RIPE RIS. BGP data shows how IP addresses are actually announced and routed on the internet in real time, providing the origin AS (Autonomous System) for each prefix — which tells us which network actually operates a given IP range.

Geofeed (RFC 8805)

RFC 8805 is a standard that allows network operators to publish the geographic location of their IP ranges directly. When a network operator says "this prefix is in Germany," that is the most authoritative location signal available. We collect and validate these operator-published declarations and treat them as the highest-confidence source.

WHOIS Sub-Allocations

Large IP blocks allocated by RIRs are often reassigned to organizations in different countries. We parse WHOIS database dumps from multiple RIRs to capture these sub-allocations, giving us more granular country-level data than top-level RIR allocations alone.

ASN and Organization Data

We enrich every record with ASN (Autonomous System Number) names and organization details, so you can see not just where an IP is located but which network operates it.

Country and Continent Metadata

Country names, continent codes, and GeoName IDs are sourced from the GeoNames geographical database, ensuring consistent and standards-compliant geographic labeling.

Multi-Source Cross-Referencing

No single data source is perfect. RIR allocations can be outdated. BGP routing can be misconfigured. That's why we cross-reference multiple independent sources for every IP range:

• Geofeed declarations from network operators are given the highest priority — operators know where their own networks are.
• WHOIS sub-allocations refine the picture by capturing reassignments within larger blocks.
• RIR delegations provide the foundational country assignment.
• BGP routing data validates that prefixes are actually announced and provides origin network information.

When multiple sources agree, confidence is high. When they conflict, we follow a strict, transparent priority order rather than opaque heuristics.

Confidence Scoring

Unlike databases that simply return a country for every IP, we assign a confidence level to each result so you can make informed decisions:

• Very High — Confirmed by network operator via RFC 8805 geofeed
• High — Corroborated by multiple independent sources (e.g., WHOIS + BGP)
• Medium — Supported by a single authoritative source
• Low — Limited data available

This transparency lets you decide how to handle each lookup based on your accuracy requirements.

Daily Updates

The internet changes constantly — IP blocks get reassigned, new networks come online, routing changes happen daily. We rebuild the entire database every day from fresh source data, using conditional requests (ETags) to efficiently detect changes without unnecessary load on upstream sources.

VPN and Infrastructure Detection

We maintain separate annotations for IP ranges associated with VPNs, proxies, datacenters, and Tor exit nodes. These flags help you distinguish between end-user traffic and infrastructure or anonymized connections.

Transparent and Verifiable

Our methodology is fully transparent. Every data source we use is publicly accessible. You don't have to trust a black box — you can verify the data sources and methods we use to arrive at every result.