Every so often I like to sharpen my coding skills by writing a simple proof of concept.

My latest effort combines a publicly available geographic/IP address database with a simple web service that takes an IP address (like the one you're using to read this), and returns a JSON result of the city/zip/country/latitude/longitude.

I can then use this object to dynamically include your geographic access details here in this blog post.

For example:


Neat, huh?

Of course, the reliability of this service is subject to the IP database's accuracy, and the logical topography of how your IP address is routed over the Internet. I'd appreciate some feedback from my readers on just how accurate, if at all, the database and your internet topology is to your actual location. Feel free to post in the comments, or drop me a line.