IP Address vs GPS: How Your PC’s Location Is Actually Tracked

Global Positioning System, or GPS, is an incredibly useful technology for mobile devices. GPS can pinpoint the device's location with incredible accuracy. Location-based services such as maps, delivery services, and ride-sharing rely on GPS to locate their customers. For Apple users, GPS is also part of the technology used to track a lost phone.

But what about computers? More often than not, location services on computers are not based on GPS. Except for some cases where a laptop comes with GPS, computers are located primarily by their IP address.

An IP address is basically a set of numbers assigned to a device connected to the network. More often than not, this set of numbers is used to approximate a device's location and determine the services it can receive. ISPs assign these numbers to devices connected to the internet or the local router for local network connections.

IP Address + Telemetry Data = Accurate PC Location

Complementing the IP address is additional information from the device itself. According to BGR, “to provide a more accurate determination, browsers and services behind the scenes use multiple data points, like Windows telemetry data, which uses a combination of Wi-Fi, GPS – if available — and other diagnostics.”

Telemetry, according to Logic Monitor, “is the automated collection of data from a remote system and its transmission to another receiving system for monitoring and analysis.” Windows and Mac users have it built-in, although it can be turned off. Telemetry in Linux depends on the distribution.

After combining an IP address with telemetry, a computer should be able to provide a near-accurate location of the device. An IP address alone will not suffice.

Accuracy of IP Address Location

An IP address alone is not enough to accurately determine the location of a computer or device. If you check your computer’s IP address on an IP lookup website, the location shown may not be close to your computer’s actual physical location.

An inaccurate IP address location is not necessarily a concern. In fact, it can help protect users' privacy.

However, there are three reasons why IP addresses are not accurate:

●    Third-Party Mapping of IP Addresses - websites that offer IP address location services often use a database to determine the location. A database may not have updated information about an IP address, or it may interpret the data as coming from a different location.

●    Assignment of IP Address Blocks - Internet Service Providers (ISPs) receive blocks of IP addresses and assign them to their subscribers. These blocks are allocated based on country, while ISPs distribute them based on network needs.

●    Dynamic IP Address - IP addresses assigned to homes usually change because of dynamic IP addresses. They are easier to set up and more cost-effective for ISPs.

An IP address is one of the many ways to determine a device’s approximate location. However, it is not the most reliable information because of different factors such as dynamic IP addresses and third-party databases. However, other data sources, such as telemetry, can help determine a device’s location more accurately.