IP addresses do not have built-in GPS coordinates. Operators lease blocks across borders, announce anycast prefixes from dozens of PoPs, and publish RFC 8805 geofeeds. IPScope exposes both the paperwork registration and the physical routing location directly in every geo response.
# Declared vs. physical country (`is_virtual_location`)
Every lookup includes three country fields inside geo:
declared_country_code: the country recorded in RIR WHOIS/RDAP allocation paperwork or operator geofeed.physical_country_code: the country where BGP routing and active latency measurements place the infrastructure.is_virtual_location:truewhenever a prefix is registered in one country (declared_country_code) but physically routed in another (physical_country_code).
# Interpreting `accuracy_radius_km` and `confidence`
| Network type | Typical `accuracy_radius_km` | Typical `geo.confidence` |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed residential broadband (FTTH / cable) | 5 – 25 km | 0.88 – 0.97 |
| Regional datacenter / cloud PoP | 5 – 15 km | 0.92 – 0.99 |
| Cellular carrier gateway (4G/5G CGNAT) | 50 – 250 km | 0.70 – 0.85 |
Global anycast prefix (location_type: "anycast") | Country-level or PoP-nearest | 0.65 – 0.80 |
# Reporting a correction
Network operators and customers can submit corrections programmatically via POST /v1/feedback or by emailing [email protected] with an RFC 8805 geofeed URL.