6 ms·

Show HN: Free and easy geoip API thanks to Cloudflare and Heroku

47 points by jasonlingx 10y ago

paulrosenzweig 10y ago
Will Cloudflare cache the same response for different countries?
- jasonlingx 10y ago
  It shouldn't.
rgbrgb 10y ago
What's the response? Just country name? I've been using this recently to suggest locations when users set up a feed: https://freegeoip.net/ https://freegeoip.net/ It uses MaxMind data.
- gruez 10y ago
  Country name only
Eun 10y ago
I did something similar: https://ifcfg.me https://ifcfg.me Also via json: https://ifcfg.me/json https://ifcfg.me/json
- ionwake 10y ago
  What is the rate limit for use on your service? I have a demo I keep trying to get onto HN but it falls over when it hits the front page.
  - Eun 10y ago
    There is none, what did you tried exactly, can you show some code?
    - ionwake 10y ago
      I haven't tried it with your service yet - but I will now - thanks!
- packetized 10y ago
  Huge fan. Use this nearly daily in my terminal opening screen; nice and quick to tell you where are, net-wise.
- nodesocket 10y ago
  How did you get LAN-Addresses and Internet Service Provider? Is this on GitHub by chance?
  - stephenr 10y ago
    For most people's uses, the AS Number & info for an IP is sufficient. I suspect perhaps s/he's using an older/outdated GeoIP database/service as the AS Number returned for my IP is wrong. The LAN address lookup (which doesn't work on Safari) is utilising a security hole in WebRTC.
sudhirj 10y ago
Built this based on Google App Engine geolocation headers. http://www.runway7.net/blip http://www.runway7.net/blip
ionwake 10y ago
Are coords returned ? Is it possible to get them?
- sudhirj 10y ago
  Already commented here, but http://www.runway7.net/blip http://www.runway7.net/blip has coordinates.
  - ionwake 10y ago
    odd I didnt see the comment any way thanks!
vivekv 10y ago
I run http://ipof.in http://ipof.in which provides data in various formats
- benjmn 10y ago
  Rely on this for my client's websites : https://ipapi.co https://ipapi.co Bigger free tier + https
- nodesocket 10y ago
  Your GeoIP response is bundled into a single array? That seems incredibly hard to parse and groc. "geoip": [ 0, 37.7957, -122.4209, "California", "San Francisco", "United States" ],
NetStrikeForce 10y ago
Some services will geolocate you by looking at your DNS server's geolocation, so when you try to resolve their endpoint www.example.com you'll get back an IP address pointing to the closest datacenter. How do you know how is your DNS server geolocated? I made a tiny proof of concept of a DNS reflector with a little extra: $ dig +short whoami.fluffcomputing.com txt Or in Windows: nslookup -type=txt whoami.fluffcomputing.com Or in PowerShell: (Resolve-DnsName -Type txt -Name whoami.fluffcomputing.com).strings The DB used is MaxMind's GeoLite2; so the system is as (in)accurate as the DB might be. If you just request an A record you'll get just your DNS server IP address as other services do (e.g. whois.akamai.net).
contingencies 10y ago
To me, the whole idea of this API is an anti-pattern: embedding Javascript in a website to make an entirely new GeoIP lookup from a third party host is wasteful and unreliable. If you want GeoIP details in served JS, the details should be served from an existing host on the initial page load where you can centrally manage availability/maintenance/etc. If you are doing nodeJS or something server side, then it would be quicker to call out to established command line tools and cut out an entire internet round trip.
- jasonlingx 10y ago
  Could you elaborate what you mean by "If you want GeoIP details in served JS, the details should be served from an existing host on the initial page load where you can centrally manage availability/maintenance/etc."?
stephenr 10y ago
I know "negative" comments are discouraged for Show HN, but seriously who is using this type of thing? I'm really not sure I understand the point of things like this, besides "make every possible library/unix tool a service". What's next, "sprintf as a service"? Maybe just "println as a service". You make a request, and it returns the same string with "\n" appended. The MaxMind GeoLite database will give you quite a lot more information than this does, with a single call to the library, and can be delivered as part of your main page response if necessary. The MaxMind GeoLite database also isn't reliant on CloudFlare to work.
- jasonlingx 10y ago
  This is for static websites.
priitmaxx 10y ago
Does anyone know if AWS supports this?
- stephenr 10y ago
  Ip to rough location (to city level usually) can be done via the maxmind geolite database. Api support exists for most languages, and calls are almost instantaneous. So any computing resource where you can install the maxmind database and library "supports" GeoIP lookups.

47 points by jasonlingx 10y ago

paulrosenzweig 10y ago

Will Cloudflare cache the same response for different countries?

jasonlingx 10y ago
It shouldn't.

rgbrgb 10y ago

What's the response? Just country name? I've been using this recently to suggest locations when users set up a feed: https://freegeoip.net/ https://freegeoip.net/ It uses MaxMind data.

gruez 10y ago
Country name only

Eun 10y ago

I did something similar: https://ifcfg.me https://ifcfg.me Also via json: https://ifcfg.me/json https://ifcfg.me/json

ionwake 10y ago
What is the rate limit for use on your service? I have a demo I keep trying to get onto HN but it falls over when it hits the front page.
- Eun 10y ago
  There is none, what did you tried exactly, can you show some code?
  - ionwake 10y ago
    I haven't tried it with your service yet - but I will now - thanks!
packetized 10y ago
Huge fan. Use this nearly daily in my terminal opening screen; nice and quick to tell you where are, net-wise.
nodesocket 10y ago
How did you get LAN-Addresses and Internet Service Provider? Is this on GitHub by chance?
- stephenr 10y ago
  For most people's uses, the AS Number & info for an IP is sufficient. I suspect perhaps s/he's using an older/outdated GeoIP database/service as the AS Number returned for my IP is wrong. The LAN address lookup (which doesn't work on Safari) is utilising a security hole in WebRTC.

sudhirj 10y ago

Built this based on Google App Engine geolocation headers. http://www.runway7.net/blip http://www.runway7.net/blip

ionwake 10y ago

Are coords returned ? Is it possible to get them?

sudhirj 10y ago
Already commented here, but http://www.runway7.net/blip http://www.runway7.net/blip has coordinates.
- ionwake 10y ago
  odd I didnt see the comment any way thanks!

vivekv 10y ago

I run http://ipof.in http://ipof.in which provides data in various formats

benjmn 10y ago
Rely on this for my client's websites : https://ipapi.co https://ipapi.co Bigger free tier + https
nodesocket 10y ago
Your GeoIP response is bundled into a single array? That seems incredibly hard to parse and groc. "geoip": [ 0, 37.7957, -122.4209, "California", "San Francisco", "United States" ],

NetStrikeForce 10y ago

Some services will geolocate you by looking at your DNS server's geolocation, so when you try to resolve their endpoint www.example.com you'll get back an IP address pointing to the closest datacenter. How do you know how is your DNS server geolocated? I made a tiny proof of concept of a DNS reflector with a little extra: $ dig +short whoami.fluffcomputing.com txt Or in Windows: nslookup -type=txt whoami.fluffcomputing.com Or in PowerShell: (Resolve-DnsName -Type txt -Name whoami.fluffcomputing.com).strings The DB used is MaxMind's GeoLite2; so the system is as (in)accurate as the DB might be. If you just request an A record you'll get just your DNS server IP address as other services do (e.g. whois.akamai.net).

contingencies 10y ago

To me, the whole idea of this API is an anti-pattern: embedding Javascript in a website to make an entirely new GeoIP lookup from a third party host is wasteful and unreliable. If you want GeoIP details in served JS, the details should be served from an existing host on the initial page load where you can centrally manage availability/maintenance/etc. If you are doing nodeJS or something server side, then it would be quicker to call out to established command line tools and cut out an entire internet round trip.

jasonlingx 10y ago
Could you elaborate what you mean by "If you want GeoIP details in served JS, the details should be served from an existing host on the initial page load where you can centrally manage availability/maintenance/etc."?

stephenr 10y ago

I know "negative" comments are discouraged for Show HN, but seriously who is using this type of thing? I'm really not sure I understand the point of things like this, besides "make every possible library/unix tool a service". What's next, "sprintf as a service"? Maybe just "println as a service". You make a request, and it returns the same string with "\n" appended. The MaxMind GeoLite database will give you quite a lot more information than this does, with a single call to the library, and can be delivered as part of your main page response if necessary. The MaxMind GeoLite database also isn't reliant on CloudFlare to work.

jasonlingx 10y ago
This is for static websites.

priitmaxx 10y ago

Does anyone know if AWS supports this?

stephenr 10y ago
Ip to rough location (to city level usually) can be done via the maxmind geolite database. Api support exists for most languages, and calls are almost instantaneous. So any computing resource where you can install the maxmind database and library "supports" GeoIP lookups.