Best Five Reasons to Use a Geo Location API
Geolocation technology has become an essential tool for businesses and developers. Businesses and developers prefer it for many purposes such as providing location-based services to their users and personalizing the user experience. But have you heard that nowadays the user's location information can be obtained with a geolocation web API? Yes, this is possible with the geo location API.
We have often seen businesses request permission to obtain location information from users through both mobile and web applications. We will see frequent use of the geo location API in the future, especially to customize the user experience. In this article, we will introduce the APIs that help us obtain the user's current position information. Then we will see the advantages and use cases of these APIs and develop a sample application.
What is Geolocation Web API?
A geolocation web API is a web service that enables developers to access location-based information via web applications.
Geolocation APIs usually takes an IP address as a parameter. These APIs return the geographic position data of the IP address they receive as a response. For this reason, they are also called IP geolocation API.
Additionally, these APIs can provide many location information as well as basic information about users' location. Such as the user's latitude and longitude coordinates, city, region, and country.
What is the Most Preferred Geolocation APIs?
Increasing demand for IP geolocation APIs has increased the number of these APIs today. There are IP geolocation APIs available in the market to meet almost any need.
The increase in the number of these APIs can make it difficult to find quality APIs in a way. The APIs listed below are the most preferred APIs by developers and businesses.
- Ipapi [1]
- ipdata API [2]
Get User's Current Location with Best Free Geolocation API: ipstack API
It is the best and most free geolocation API of recent times. The ipstack API is actively used by thousands of developers and businesses.
The ipstack API provides the acquired location data corresponding to the IP address at high speed. Although it provides high-speed data, the accuracy of the user's position information is quite high. Providing accurate information about the user's position in the fastest way is related to how the ipstack API works.
It provides a detailed geolocation object of the device's location by providing the IP address. The geolocation object it provides includes latitude, longitude, timestamp, region code, and detailed currency information. An example ipstack API geolocation position output of the '181.177.94.216' IP address is as follows.
{
"ip": "181.177.94.216",
"type": "ipv4",
"continent_code": "NA",
"continent_name": "North America",
"country_code": "US",
"country_name": "United States",
"region_code": "NY",
"region_name": "New York",
"city": "Monsey",
"zip": "10901",
"latitude": 41.1178092956543,
"longitude": -74.12246704101562,
"location": {
"geoname_id": 5127315,
"capital": "Washington D.C.",
"languages": [
{
"code": "en",
"name": "English",
"native": "English"
}
],
"country_flag": "https://assets.ipstack.com/flags/us.svg",
"country_flag_emoji": "\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8",
"country_flag_emoji_unicode": "U+1F1FA U+1F1F8",
"calling_code": "1",
"is_eu": false
},
"time_zone": {
"id": "America/New_York",
"current_time": "2023-01-26T16:18:45-05:00",
"gmt_offset": -18000,
"code": "EST",
"is_daylight_saving": false
},
"currency": {
"code": "USD",
"name": "US Dollar",
"plural": "US dollars",
"symbol": "$",
"symbol_native": "$"
},
"connection": {
"asn": 263735,
"isp": "Sociedad Buena Hosting s.A."
},
"security": {
"is_proxy": false,
"proxy_type": null,
"is_crawler": false,
"crawler_name": null,
"crawler_type": null,
"is_tor": false,
"threat_level": "low",
"threat_types": null
}
}
The ipstack API provides bank-grade security. All data sent or received by this API is secured with 256-bit (HTTPS). In addition, the ipstack API works in partnership with the browser permissions of many browsers such as Google Chrome. It is appropriate to request permission before obtaining the geolocation position information of the device's location.
It has a flexible infrastructure and allows you to experience an easy integration process. In this way, error cases can be easily handled and interpreted. It is very important at this stage that it sends the error code with an error message.
In the document provided by the Ipstack API, the error message is associated with the error code as follows.
What are the Subscription Plans of the ipstack API?
The ipstack API, which helps us to obtain the user's location, provides many flexible subscription plans. Among the plans it provides, the free plan option draws attention. 100 requests per month can be used free of charge.
Top Five Reasons to Use the Geolocation API
Today, the demand for developers and businesses for geolocation API is increasing day by day. The main reason for this is the effect provided by the geolocation API. Using the Geolocation API provides many benefits and conveniences to developers and businesses.
For example, businesses can gain many advantages by using the geolocation API through a web application. Obtaining the user's location or the user's device's position can enable businesses to increase their organic traffic directly.
Let's list the top 5 reasons for using the geolocation API, which is the main topic of this article.
Wide-ranging use
The information provided by the Geolocation API for a geolocation position is detailed. They often provide not only the latitude and longitude information of the desired geolocation position, but more.
The location data provided also includes the location's flag logo, continent code, currency, and timestamp information. Thanks to this information, businesses and developers easily prefer the geolocation API for larger projects.
Providing Accurate Location Data
Popular geolocation APIs like ipstack API has been developed to provide accurate results. The databases used by these web services have billions of address records.
In addition, web service providers periodically update the location data in these databases. The reason for this is to increase the accuracy of the location. The cost of preparing such a database and keeping it up to date is quite high.
Easy and Fast Integration
Another reason for using the Geolocation API is its integration and ease of use. Since they are REST-based, they can be integrated into almost any programming language.
In addition, web services such as ipstack can return in both JSON and XML formats. This is a factor that ensures a fast integration process.
Reliability, Availability, and Speed
Reliability, availability, and speed are very important concepts for a web service. By choosing a geolocation API, you can avoid the cost of implementing all these concepts.
Pricing and Cost
Finally, another reason for choosing the geolocation API is the pricing. Using the geolocation API saves businesses from many other costs such as maintenance, repair, data insertion, and updating.
There are many free geolocation APIs as well as affordable geolocation APIs that provide geolocation location. In this way, businesses or developers can test these APIs.
What is the Importance of Accurate Location Data in Geolocation APIs
The purpose of a geolocation API is to provide location-based information and services. If location data is incorrect, it can lead to a bad user experience and even security risks.
For example, consider an application that provides users with weather information at their current location using the geolocation API. If the location data provided by the API is incorrect, the application displays incorrect weather information. This can cause users to lose confidence in the application.
What are the Use Cases for Geolocation APIs to the Get User's Position?
The use of geolocation is quite common. Below are a few examples of using the geolocation API.
E-commerce: First of all, e-commerce applications are the applications that most prefer geolocation APIs. With the geolocation API, users' geolocation positions are obtained and many opportunities can be provided. Such as fast shipping, regional discount, and pick-up delivery.
Emergency Services: Geolocation APIs are also used by emergency services. The geolocation position information of the person calling the emergency service is obtained and help can be sent.
User tracking: A geolocation API can also be used to track the location of users. This allows getting the position changes.
How to Use Geocoding API Free in Python?
In this step, we will integrate the ipstack API into the Python programming language. With this example integration, we will obtain detailed geolocation position information corresponding to an IP address. So let's get started.
Get an API Key
To use the ipstack API, we first need to obtain an API key. We choose one of the flexible and affordable subscription packages offered by the ipstack API and register. After registration, we obtained an API key so that we can use this API.
Build Code Block
Now we will integrate the ipstack API into the Python application. First, let's create a file named 'geolocation-position-example.py'.
After creating the file, we will paste the following codes into it.
import requests
ipstack_url = "http://api.ipstack.com/18.194.155.22?access_key=YOUR_API_KEY"
payload={}
headers = {}
ipstack_response = requests.request("GET", ipstack_url, headers=headers, data=payload)
print(ipstack_response.text)
That's how fast the ipstack API is integrated into Python, one of the most popular programming languages today. For this example, we will obtain geolocation position information corresponding to the IP address '18.194.155.22'.
Run the Application
2Let's open a terminal in the file location where the application is located. Then, let's run the application by typing the following command in this terminal.
python geolocation-position-example.py
Test the Results
After the application is running, we see the following JSON output on the console screen of the application.
{
"ip": "18.194.155.22",
"type": "ipv4",
"continent_code": "EU",
"continent_name": "Europe",
"country_code": "DE",
"country_name": "Germany",
"region_code": "HE",
"region_name": "Hesse",
"city": "Frankfurt am Main",
"zip": "60311",
"latitude": 50.11090087890625,
"longitude": 8.682100296020508,
"location": {
"geoname_id": 2925533,
"capital": "Berlin",
"languages": [
{
"code": "de",
"name": "German",
"native": "Deutsch"
}
],
"country_flag": "https://assets.ipstack.com/flags/de.svg",
"country_flag_emoji": "\ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddea",
"country_flag_emoji_unicode": "U+1F1E9 U+1F1EA",
"calling_code": "49",
"is_eu": true
},
"time_zone": {
"id": "Europe/Berlin",
"current_time": "2023-01-27T20:01:41+01:00",
"gmt_offset": 3600,
"code": "CET",
"is_daylight_saving": false
},
"currency": {
"code": "EUR",
"name": "Euro",
"plural": "euros",
"symbol": "\u20ac",
"symbol_native": "\u20ac"
},
"connection": {
"asn": 16509,
"isp": "amazon.com Inc"
},
"security": {
"is_proxy": false,
"proxy_type": null,
"is_crawler": false,
"crawler_name": null,
"crawler_type": null,
"is_tor": false,
"threat_level": "low",
"threat_types": null
}
}
Specify Output Format
Thanks to its flexible infrastructure, ipstack API provides fast integration to developers and businesses. To get the geolocation position information provided by the ipstack API in XML format, we just need to update the 'ipstack_url' in the code we provided as follows
ipstack_url = "http://api.ipstack.com/18.194.155.22?access_key=YOUR_API_KEY&output=xml"
Conclusion
In conclusion, geolocation APIs are a valuable tool for businesses and developers looking to provide location-based services and personalize their offerings. The IPStack API is a popular choice among businesses due to its wide range of features. Also, it can provide accurate location data based on IP addresses. Register now to get great privileges from the best free geolocation API.
FAQs
How can businesses use geolocation APIs to personalize content and services?
Businesses can use geolocation APIs to determine a user's location. Then It can use that information to personalize the content and services they provide. For example, a weather app can use geolocation data to provide local weather forecasts.
How accurate are geolocation APIs in determining a user's location?
The accuracy of geolocation APIs can vary depending on the technology used and the availability of data. For example, a GPS-enabled device will generally provide more accurate location data than an IP address.
How can a geolocation API improve my business?
A geolocation API can improve your business by providing more accurate location data and allowing you to personalize your content. It can also help to prevent fraudulent activity and track users' behavior.
How do I choose the best geolocation API for my business?s
When choosing a geolocation API for your business, you should consider factors such as accuracy, cost, features, and scalability.
[1] https://ipapi.com/
[2] https://ipdata.co/