How to read an IP location result
An IP location is an estimate of the area a network address is served from, not a point on a map. When you trace an IP address here, the dossier draws a probable-area circle on an OpenStreetMap view, sized to the evidence, and stamps it with a confidence rating. Understanding why it is a circle — and why the radius matters more than the centre — is the key to using the result well.
Why a circle, not a pin
Geolocation databases such as DB-IP map whole ranges of addresses to places using routing data, registry records and network measurements. That mapping is coarse by design: thousands of subscribers across a city, or an entire province, can share a single entry. A pin dropped at "the location" would really be the centroid of that entry — often a city hall, or the geographic middle of a country — and it would look far more precise than the underlying data is. The circle makes the uncertainty visible. The address is probably somewhere inside it, and the confidence rating tells you how much weight that "probably" can bear. The mechanics behind these estimates are covered in how IP geolocation works.
The zoom-honesty rule
The map never zooms deeper than the radius justifies. If the best supportable claim is "somewhere in this metropolitan area", you get a view framing the whole metro — never a street-level frame that implies knowledge of a block or building. This is deliberate. IP geolocation cannot identify an individual, a household or a street address, and a tool that zooms to rooftops is overstating its data. If that distinction matters to you, read can someone find my address from my IP.
Why the city is sometimes wrong
Country-level results are dependable, roughly 95–99% correct. City-level is much softer: about 50–75% on fixed broadband, and frequently wrong elsewhere. The usual causes:
- Mobile networks. Carrier traffic exits at regional gateways, so the estimate lands where the gateway sits — sometimes hundreds of kilometres from the handset.
- VPNs, proxies and datacenters. You are locating the server, not the user behind it. The tracer marks such ranges LIKELY datacenter or VPN based on the AS operator's name — a heuristic signal, never proof.
- Address reshuffling. Providers move blocks between cities faster than databases refresh, so an estimate can trail reality by weeks.
- Satellite links and carrier-grade NAT. Many users share one exit point that may sit far from all of them.
The accuracy numbers, tier by tier, are laid out in how accurate is IP geolocation. To see the circle and confidence rating in practice, open the example dossier for 8.8.8.8, or start from your own address.