Add an IP Address Geocoder to ArcGIS

1684
1
07-23-2014 06:48 AM
Status: Open
BradyHoak
Esri Contributor
Please add the abilty to geocode an IP address.  This should be an offline dataset at the country level in the data and maps DVD. Additionally, at the city or lower level, this should be a service on ArcGIS online.

The need to locate the closest lat long of an IP address, and then create a usable featureclass, is a needed feature.  This is increasingly important due to emerging areas of geospatial analysis, such as cyber security.  An IP address  database is not something a user could even begin to create on their own, and thus would be a valuable additional service to have within ArcGIS online.  It would need to be a service since it would need to be maintained and updated.

Also have a geoenrichment capability to add the Internet provider (ISP) attributes.
1 Comment
JohnDye
" An IP address  database is not something a user could even begin to create on their own"

Nor is it something ESRI could create on its own. I think there are way, way, way too many moving parts to something like this. Even Google doesn't do this. They give you an approximation of where the IP should be coming from. Note the keyword, should. IPs can be spoofed pretty easily. In addition, I'm not sure how much value an approximate location would be with GIS. I just don't see how you could possibly get a reasonable Circular Margin of Error with IPs. They change constantly.