Get user location by IP address

Question

I have an ASP.NET website written in C#.

On this site I need to automatically show a start page based on the user's location.

Can I get name of user's city based on the IP address of the user ?

for free `Rest Api` check [freegeoip.net](http://freegeoip.net/) or [geoplugin.net](http://www.geoplugin.net) , or check [this](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6812969/geoip-database-api-providers-other-than-maxmind) and [this](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2362413/any-reliable-api-available-to-determine-users-city-and-country-from-ip-address) post, hope helps someone. — Shaiju T, Nov 22 '15 at 09:35

score 48 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 27 '19 at 19:19

48

You need an IP-address-based reverse geocoding API... like the one from ipdata.co. I'm sure there are plenty of options available.

You may want to allow the user to override this, however. For example, they could be on a corporate VPN which makes the IP address look like it's in a different country.

edited Jun 27 '19 at 19:19

Baum mit Augen

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answered Dec 01 '10 at 18:21

Jon Skeet

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Another blazingly fast and accurate Geolocation and threat data API is [ipregistry.co](https://ipregistry.co) (disclaimer: I run the service). – Laurent Jun 27 '19 at 22:34

score 33 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 15 '20 at 11:29

Use http://ipinfo.io , You need to pay them if you make more than 1000 requests per day.

The code below requires the Json.NET package.

public static string GetUserCountryByIp(string ip)
{
    IpInfo ipInfo = new IpInfo();
    try
    {
        string info = new WebClient().DownloadString("http://ipinfo.io/" + ip);
        ipInfo = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<IpInfo>(info);
        RegionInfo myRI1 = new RegionInfo(ipInfo.Country);
        ipInfo.Country = myRI1.EnglishName;
    }
    catch (Exception)
    {
        ipInfo.Country = null;
    }
    
    return ipInfo.Country;
}

And the IpInfo Class I used:

public class IpInfo
{
    [JsonProperty("ip")]
    public string Ip { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("hostname")]
    public string Hostname { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("city")]
    public string City { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("region")]
    public string Region { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("country")]
    public string Country { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("loc")]
    public string Loc { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("org")]
    public string Org { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("postal")]
    public string Postal { get; set; }
}

BJ Patel · Answer 3 · 2021-04-23T10:04:31.473

23

Following Code work for me.

Update:

As I am calling a free API request (json base ) IpStack.

    public static string CityStateCountByIp(string IP)
    {
      //var url = "http://freegeoip.net/json/" + IP;
      //var url = "http://freegeoip.net/json/" + IP;
        string url = "http://api.ipstack.com/" + IP + "?access_key=[KEY]";
        var request = System.Net.WebRequest.Create(url);
        
        using (WebResponse wrs = request.GetResponse())
        {
            using (Stream stream = wrs.GetResponseStream())
            {
                using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(stream))
                {
          string json = reader.ReadToEnd();
          var obj = JObject.Parse(json);
            string City = (string)obj["city"];
            string Country = (string)obj["region_name"];                    
            string CountryCode = (string)obj["country_code"];
        
           return (CountryCode + " - " + Country +"," + City);
           }}}


  return "";

}

Edit : First, it was http://freegeoip.net/ now it's https://ipstack.com/ (and maybe now it's a paid service- Free Up to 10,000 request/month)

edited Apr 23 '21 at 10:04

answered Aug 02 '16 at 12:50

BJ Patel

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I have no idea why this was not the answer. Good job – BoundForGlory Oct 06 '17 at 19:13
1

This also supports replacing `json` with `xml` in the address to get an XML return structure. – DonBoitnott May 16 '18 at 10:57
You should add your API key at the end. Correct? – Michael Haephrati Sep 20 '18 at 18:43
IPStack is highly inaccurate – user1034912 Oct 23 '19 at 06:42
1

its still have few free hits :) – Gaurav Kaushik Jul 13 '20 at 14:21
You need to register mail, etc... to get an access key, so its a no for me. However it seems to be more accurate in location info than other answers. – L Chougrani Jan 14 '21 at 18:00

score 12 · Answer 4 · edited May 24 '18 at 01:26

12

IPInfoDB has an API that you can call in order to find a location based on an IP address.

For "City Precision", you call it like this (you'll need to register to get a free API key):

 http://api.ipinfodb.com/v2/ip_query.php?key=<your_api_key>&ip=74.125.45.100&timezone=false

Here's an example in both VB and C# that shows how to call the API.

edited May 24 '18 at 01:26

Rob

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answered Dec 01 '10 at 18:22

Donut

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score 11 · Answer 5 · edited Jan 08 '17 at 20:24

I have tried using http://ipinfo.io and this JSON API works perfectly. First, you need to add the below mentioned namespaces:

using System.Linq;
using System.Web; 
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Net;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml;
using System.Collections.Specialized;

For localhost it will give dummy data as AU. You can try hardcoding your IP and get results:

namespace WebApplication4
{
    public partial class WebForm1 : System.Web.UI.Page
    {

        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
         {

          string VisitorsIPAddr = string.Empty;
          //Users IP Address.                
          if (HttpContext.Current.Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR"] != null)
          {
              //To get the IP address of the machine and not the proxy
              VisitorsIPAddr =   HttpContext.Current.Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR"].ToString();
          }
          else if (HttpContext.Current.Request.UserHostAddress.Length != 0)
          {
              VisitorsIPAddr = HttpContext.Current.Request.UserHostAddress;`enter code here`
          }

          string res = "http://ipinfo.io/" + VisitorsIPAddr + "/city";
          string ipResponse = IPRequestHelper(res);

        }

        public string IPRequestHelper(string url)
        {

            string checkURL = url;
            HttpWebRequest objRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);
            HttpWebResponse objResponse = (HttpWebResponse)objRequest.GetResponse();
            StreamReader responseStream = new StreamReader(objResponse.GetResponseStream());
            string responseRead = responseStream.ReadToEnd();
            responseRead = responseRead.Replace("\n", String.Empty);
            responseStream.Close();
            responseStream.Dispose();
            return responseRead;
        }


    }
}

Could you add a few lines to explain your solution ? Thanks. — m4rtin, Sep 24 '14 at 12:02

Pranay · Answer 6 · 2018-02-26T02:54:16.657

9

I was able to achieve this in ASP.NET MVC using the client IP address and freegeoip.net API. freegeoip.net is free and does not require any license.

Below is the sample code I used.

String UserIP = HttpContext.Current.Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR"];
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(UserIP))
{
    UserIP = HttpContext.Current.Request.ServerVariables["REMOTE_ADDR"];
}
string url = "http://freegeoip.net/json/" + UserIP.ToString();
WebClient client = new WebClient();
string jsonstring = client.DownloadString(url);
dynamic dynObj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(jsonstring);
System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Session["UserCountryCode"] = dynObj.country_code;

You can go through this post for more details.Hope it helps!

edited Feb 26 '18 at 02:54

answered Oct 09 '15 at 05:53

Pranay

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Link-only answers are highly discouraged here because the links may become dead in the future. I suggest you edit your answer with quotes from the sources you cite. – Anirudh Sharma Oct 09 '15 at 06:13
15К requests per day for free – aleha_84 Feb 23 '17 at 20:14

score 6 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 04 '15 at 09:53

Using the Request of following web site

http://ip-api.com/

Following is C# code for returning Country and Country Code

public  string GetCountryByIP(string ipAddress)
    {
        string strReturnVal;
        string ipResponse = IPRequestHelper("http://ip-api.com/xml/" + ipAddress);

        //return ipResponse;
        XmlDocument ipInfoXML = new XmlDocument();
        ipInfoXML.LoadXml(ipResponse);
        XmlNodeList responseXML = ipInfoXML.GetElementsByTagName("query");

        NameValueCollection dataXML = new NameValueCollection();

        dataXML.Add(responseXML.Item(0).ChildNodes[2].InnerText, responseXML.Item(0).ChildNodes[2].Value);

        strReturnVal = responseXML.Item(0).ChildNodes[1].InnerText.ToString(); // Contry
        strReturnVal += "(" + 

responseXML.Item(0).ChildNodes[2].InnerText.ToString() + ")";  // Contry Code 
 return strReturnVal;
}

And following is Helper for requesting url.

public string IPRequestHelper(string url) {

      HttpWebRequest objRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);
      HttpWebResponse objResponse = (HttpWebResponse)objRequest.GetResponse();

      StreamReader responseStream = new StreamReader(objResponse.GetResponseStream());
      string responseRead = responseStream.ReadToEnd();

      responseStream.Close();
      responseStream.Dispose();

  return responseRead;
}

it seems we have to pay for commercial use. – Shaiju T Nov 22 '15 at 08:31 — Shaiju T, Nov 22 '15 at 08:31

Chuck Callebs · Answer 8 · 2016-02-04T21:46:43.983

5

You'll probably have to use an external API, most of which cost money.

I did find this though, seems to be free: http://hostip.info/use.html

edited Feb 04 '16 at 21:46

answered Dec 01 '10 at 18:21

Chuck Callebs

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The URL mentioned is no longer available, but details of the API can now be found at http://www.hostip.info/use.html – Peter Jan 11 '16 at 09:50
@PeterBailey Updated! Thank you. – Chuck Callebs Feb 04 '16 at 21:46

GreyCat · Answer 9 · 2015-08-30T08:20:04.950

5

What you need is called a "geo-IP database". Most of them cost some money (albeit not too expensive), especially fairly precise ones. One of the most widely used is MaxMind's database. They have a fairly good free version of IP-to-city database called GeoLity City - it has lots of restrictions, but if you can cope with that that would be probably your best choice, unless you have some money to spare for a subscription to more accurate product.

And, yeah, they do have a C# API to query geo-IP databases available.

edited Aug 30 '15 at 08:20

answered Dec 01 '10 at 18:30

GreyCat

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Thats handy to know, especially GEO-IP options for C# – Martin Sansone - MiOEE Oct 04 '14 at 16:58
MaxMind changed their site structure, I've fixed the links. Thanks, @Dementic. – GreyCat Aug 30 '15 at 08:20

Ionică Bizău · Answer 10 · 2013-06-10T11:56:23.120

4

Return country

static public string GetCountry()
{
    return new WebClient().DownloadString("http://api.hostip.info/country.php");
}

Usage:

Console.WriteLine(GetCountry()); // will return short code for your country

Return info

static public string GetInfo()
{
    return new WebClient().DownloadString("http://api.hostip.info/get_json.php");
}

Usage:

Console.WriteLine(GetInfo()); 
// Example:
// {
//    "country_name":"COUNTRY NAME",
//    "country_code":"COUNTRY CODE",
//    "city":"City",
//    "ip":"XX.XXX.XX.XXX"
// }

edited Jun 10 '13 at 11:56

answered Jul 26 '12 at 18:07

Ionică Bizău

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If you run this, it is returning the country of the server running the web application (and this code), not the country of the client requesting the web page. So, this is not the users location as requested. (nevertheless a really decent programming style) – spikey Jun 24 '15 at 14:29
4

broken at the moment – HellBaby Dec 19 '16 at 13:59

score 3 · Answer 11 · answered Aug 21 '15 at 10:53

It's good sample for you:

public class IpProperties
    {
        public string Status { get; set; }
        public string Country { get; set; }
        public string CountryCode { get; set; }
        public string Region { get; set; }
        public string RegionName { get; set; }
        public string City { get; set; }
        public string Zip { get; set; }
        public string Lat { get; set; }
        public string Lon { get; set; }
        public string TimeZone { get; set; }
        public string ISP { get; set; }
        public string ORG { get; set; }
        public string AS { get; set; }
        public string Query { get; set; }
    }
 public string IPRequestHelper(string url)
    {
        HttpWebRequest objRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);
        HttpWebResponse objResponse = (HttpWebResponse)objRequest.GetResponse();

        StreamReader responseStream = new StreamReader(objResponse.GetResponseStream());
        string responseRead = responseStream.ReadToEnd();

        responseStream.Close();
        responseStream.Dispose();

        return responseRead;
    }

    public IpProperties GetCountryByIP(string ipAddress)
    {
        string ipResponse = IPRequestHelper("http://ip-api.com/xml/" + ipAddress);
        using (TextReader sr = new StringReader(ipResponse))
        {
            using (System.Data.DataSet dataBase = new System.Data.DataSet())
            {
                IpProperties ipProperties = new IpProperties();
                dataBase.ReadXml(sr);
                ipProperties.Status = dataBase.Tables[0].Rows[0][0].ToString();
                ipProperties.Country = dataBase.Tables[0].Rows[0][1].ToString();
                ipProperties.CountryCode = dataBase.Tables[0].Rows[0][2].ToString();
                ipProperties.Region = dataBase.Tables[0].Rows[0][3].ToString();
                ipProperties.RegionName = dataBase.Tables[0].Rows[0][4].ToString();
                ipProperties.City = dataBase.Tables[0].Rows[0][5].ToString();
                ipProperties.Zip = dataBase.Tables[0].Rows[0][6].ToString();
                ipProperties.Lat = dataBase.Tables[0].Rows[0][7].ToString();
                ipProperties.Lon = dataBase.Tables[0].Rows[0][8].ToString();
                ipProperties.TimeZone = dataBase.Tables[0].Rows[0][9].ToString();
                ipProperties.ISP = dataBase.Tables[0].Rows[0][10].ToString();
                ipProperties.ORG = dataBase.Tables[0].Rows[0][11].ToString();
                ipProperties.AS = dataBase.Tables[0].Rows[0][12].ToString();
                ipProperties.Query = dataBase.Tables[0].Rows[0][13].ToString();

                return ipProperties;
            }
        }
    }

And test:

var ipResponse = GetCountryByIP("your ip address or domain name :)");

score 2 · Answer 12 · edited Jun 06 '18 at 23:33

An Alternative to using an API is to use HTML 5 location Navigator to query the browser about the User location. I was looking for a similar approach as in the subject question but I found that HTML 5 Navigator works better and cheaper for my situation. Please consider that your scinario might be different. To get the User position using Html5 is very easy:

function getLocation()
{
    if (navigator.geolocation)
    {
        navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(showPosition);
    }
    else
    {
        console.log("Geolocation is not supported by this browser.");
     }
}

function showPosition(position)
{
      console.log("Latitude: " + position.coords.latitude + 
  "<br>Longitude: " + position.coords.longitude); 
}

Try it yourself on W3Schools Geolocation Tutorial

Yeah, but if I am not mistaken you need user's permission to access its geolocation, which might be not the best case scenario for your implementation, unless you make your users to consent. — Marin, Aug 15 '22 at 10:58

score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Mar 23 '19 at 20:23

    public static string GetLocationIPAPI(string ipaddress)
    {
        try
        {
            IPDataIPAPI ipInfo = new IPDataIPAPI();
            string strResponse = new WebClient().DownloadString("http://ip-api.com/json/" + ipaddress);
            if (strResponse == null || strResponse == "") return "";
            ipInfo = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<IPDataIPAPI>(strResponse);
            if (ipInfo == null || ipInfo.status.ToLower().Trim() == "fail") return "";
            else return ipInfo.city + "; " + ipInfo.regionName + "; " + ipInfo.country + "; " + ipInfo.countryCode;
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            return "";
        }
    }

public class IPDataIPINFO
{
    public string ip { get; set; }
    public string city { get; set; }
    public string region { get; set; }
    public string country { get; set; }
    public string loc { get; set; }
    public string postal { get; set; }
    public int org { get; set; }

}

==========================

    public static string GetLocationIPINFO(string ipaddress)
    {            
        try
        {
            IPDataIPINFO ipInfo = new IPDataIPINFO();
            string strResponse = new WebClient().DownloadString("http://ipinfo.io/" + ipaddress);
            if (strResponse == null || strResponse == "") return "";
            ipInfo = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<IPDataIPINFO>(strResponse);
            if (ipInfo == null || ipInfo.ip == null || ipInfo.ip == "") return "";
            else return ipInfo.city + "; " + ipInfo.region + "; " + ipInfo.country + "; " + ipInfo.postal;
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            return "";
        }
    }

public class IPDataIPAPI
{
    public string status { get; set; }
    public string country { get; set; }
    public string countryCode { get; set; }
    public string region { get; set; }
    public string regionName { get; set; }
    public string city { get; set; }
    public string zip { get; set; }
    public string lat { get; set; }
    public string lon { get; set; }
    public string timezone { get; set; }
    public string isp { get; set; }
    public string org { get; set; }
    public string @as { get; set; }
    public string query { get; set; }
}

==============================

    private static string GetLocationIPSTACK(string ipaddress)
    {
        try
        {
            IPDataIPSTACK ipInfo = new IPDataIPSTACK();
            string strResponse = new WebClient().DownloadString("http://api.ipstack.com/" + ipaddress + "?access_key=XX384X1XX028XX1X66XXX4X04XXXX98X");
            if (strResponse == null || strResponse == "") return "";
            ipInfo = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<IPDataIPSTACK>(strResponse);
            if (ipInfo == null || ipInfo.ip == null || ipInfo.ip == "") return "";
            else return ipInfo.city + "; " + ipInfo.region_name + "; " + ipInfo.country_name + "; " + ipInfo.zip;
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            return "";
        }
    }

public class IPDataIPSTACK
{
    public string ip { get; set; }
    public int city { get; set; }
    public string region_code { get; set; }
    public string region_name { get; set; }
    public string country_code { get; set; }
    public string country_name { get; set; }
    public string zip { get; set; }


}

Please add an explanation of what this code does and what to do with it. [from review] — Artemis, Mar 23 '19 at 20:45

Get user location by IP address

13 Answers13

Return country

Return info

Linked

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