How IP location is determined
Regional registries allocate address blocks to providers, who use them in specific cities and data centers. Geolocation databases combine registry, routing and latency data to map each address range to a place.
How accurate is it
- Country is almost always correct.
- City is mostly correct, but for mobile internet and large providers it may point to the city where their equipment is located.
- Coordinates point to the center of a city or region, not a street address. An exact location cannot be determined from an IP address.
VPNs, proxies and cloud services show the location of their server, not the user. Network owner details are best viewed in IP info.