# IP geolocation

IP geolocation is the mapping of an IP address to a physical location, built by commercial database vendors from regional registry records, ISP allocations, latency measurements and user-contributed corrections. Websites use it to localize content and to check visitors; proxy providers use it to place exits. Country accuracy is very high, city accuracy varies with the size of the city and the type of network.


## Why two sites disagree about the same IP

They use different databases, updated at different times. An address reassigned by an ISP last month may still show its old city in one vendor's data. For proxy work this means: verify the exit with the database the *target* is likely to use, and prefer country or state targeting when the job tolerates it.


## Checking an exit

1. Send a request through the proxy to an IP-echo service and note the address.
2. Look it up in one or two public geolocation lookups.
3. Compare with the location you requested; at city level, accept the neighbouring town.


## How it works at ProxShift

ProxShift places exits with commercial geolocation data at country, US-state and city level; the quickstart shows how to verify an exit in one command.

Source: https://proxshift.com/glossary/ip-geolocation