Google Geolocation

Google Geolocation API vs. ipstack IP Geolocation API: What’s the Difference?

ByJack

Today, developers and businesses are looking for ways to enhance the user experience through web applications. They offer them various campaigns, a beautiful interface, and engaging offers.

When they want to improve the user or region-based user experience, an IP geolocation API such as a Google Geolocation API or ipstack API provides all the data they need.

An IP geolocation API provides businesses and developers with the location data of their users within seconds. This data allows them to identify users in a specific location or region and create campaigns or content targeted to them.

Localization, in particular, is the best way for businesses to enhance the user experience using an IP geolocation API.

Have you ever wondered about the differences between Google Geolocation API and ipstack API, two of the most commonly used IP geolocation APIs today? In this article, we will first get to know these two web services. Then we will list their differences.

What is the Google Geolocation API?

Google Geolocation API is a very popular geolocation service provided by Google. The Google Geolocation API is an important service used to perform geolocation for mobile clients.

The API determines location information using cell towers and WiFi access points that the client device can detect within its area.

What is the Google Geolocation API

Learn what geolocation is and how it works.

This is done through an HTTPS request made by the client. As a result, the API provides latitude and longitude coordinates and offers a specific radius of accuracy for each location.

Thus, apps and websites using this API can serve content based on users’ geographic locations, display targeted ads, and improve local experiences.

The API’s radius of accuracy indicates how precise the location estimate is. This allows app developers to share this information with users.

The Google Geolocation API is an important tool for improving the geographic accuracy of web-based services and enriching the user experience.

Best Use Cases of the Google Geolocation API

  • Real-Time Location Tracking: This is one of the most common and preferred use cases of the Google Geolocation API. This API can be used to track the real-time geolocation of devices or users. This can be useful in applications such as vehicle tracking systems, logistics applications, live location tracking, and delivery management. It is enough to configure the ‘Cell Tower Data’ and ‘Wi-Fi Access Point Data’ fields in the request data accordingly.
  • Navigation Creation: Google Geolocation API is mainly designed for geolocation and helps you get location information and track the real-time location of devices. Thanks to its real-time operation, it is used in navigation applications or web-based location tracking applications.
  • Location-Based Alerts: Another popular use case of the Google Geolocation API is creating location-based alerts. One of the most common use cases of this is the instantaneous display of the speed limit on the road the user is on while traveling by car in navigation applications. In this way, the user obtains the speed limit information in real time.

How to Use Google Geolocation API?

Developers can follow the steps below to use the Google Geolocation API.

Get an API Key

To use the Google Geolocation API, developers must first obtain an API key. For this, they need to sign up to Google Cloud and then create a project. Finally, they can generate an API key from the Google Geolocation API.

Request

The Google Geolocation API is very easy to use. This API supports the HTTP POST method. In order to obtain data from this API, the URL to embed the request and a sample request body are as follows:

URL:

https://www.googleapis.com/geolocation/v1/geolocate?key=YOUR_API_KEY


Request Body:

{
“considerIp”: “false”,
“wifiAccessPoints”: [
{
“macAddress”: “3c:37:86:5d:75:d4”,
“signalStrength”: -35,
“signalToNoiseRatio”: 0
},
{
“macAddress”: “94:b4:0f:fd:c1:40”,
“signalStrength”: -35,
“signalToNoiseRatio”: 0
}
]
}

Response

Google Geolocation API only provides the latitude and longitude information of the geographical location as a response. It does not provide a detailed response about the location. The sample response of Google Geolocation API is as follows:

{
“location”: {
“lat”: 37.4241876,
“lng”: -122.0917381
},
“accuracy”: 32.839
}

What is the ipstack API?

The ipstack API is one of the most efficient IP geolocation APIs today. It is an IP geolocation API used by very large companies such as Microsoft, Samsung, and Airbnb.

What is the ipstack API

Discover the best use cases using the IP geolocation API for your marketing and advertising!

The ipstack API is an API that provides location data corresponding to an IP address. This API supports more than 2 million locations in more than 200,000 cities around the world. It provides location data corresponding to that IP address in a very detailed way.

Unlike the Google Geolocation API, it provides not only the latitude and longitude of the location, but also the country name, continent name, continent code, and even the official currency of the location.

It is easily integrated into all programming languages and is a very simple API to use. Finally, it provides technical support to its users. In this way, users who use this API can quickly get help from ipstack in case of any problem.

Best Use Cases of the ipstack API

  • Localization: The ipstack API is especially used for localization as it provides users with detailed geolocation data corresponding to the IP address. For localization, application owners obtain the IP addresses of their users when they login to the application and obtain detailed geolocation data corresponding to their IP addresses through the ipstack API. Then, based on this location data, they localize their app’s language, currency, content recommendations, and more.
  • Location-Based Advertising: The ipstack API can be used to develop location-based advertising strategies using users’ geolocation. This is frequently used for native advertising, such as ads that direct users to nearby stores or events.
  • Geographic Data Collection: One of the most popular reasons why businesses choose the ipstack API is the advantage of geographic data collection. Businesses, especially those with a national reach, can obtain and group the location of the users who visit their apps. They can then analyze the locations where users visit their apps the least and develop more tailored marketing strategies for those locations.

How to Use the ipstack API?

Developers can follow the steps below to use this API.

Get an API Key

The ipstack API offers multiple subscription plans to its users.  Developers who want to use this API can quickly sign up for one of these plans and get an API key. They can easily see their API keys and usages on ipstack’s dashboard page.

Request

The ipstack API supports the HTTP GET method. This makes it easy to work in any browser. The URL that developers will request to obtain the geolocation corresponding to the IP address is as follows:

https://api.ipstack.com/134.201.250.155?access_key=YOUR_ACCESS_KEY

Response

The ipstack API provides a very detailed answer to the geographic location corresponding to the IP address. It can provide this response in both JSON and XML formats.

The detailed geolocation response that The ipstack API provides for an IP address is as follows:

{
“ip”: “134.201.250.155”,
“type”: “ipv4”,
“continent_code”: “NA”,
“continent_name”: “North America”,
“country_code”: “US”,
“country_name”: “United States”,
“region_code”: “CA”,
“region_name”: “California”,
“city”: “Los Angeles”,
“zip”: “90013”,
“latitude”: 34.0453,
“longitude”: -118.2413,
“location”: {
“geoname_id”: 5368361,
“capital”: “Washington D.C.”,
“languages”: [
{
“code”: “en”,
“name”: “English”,
“native”: “English”
}
],
“country_flag”: “https://assets.ipstack.com/images/assets/flags_svg/us.svg”,
“country_flag_emoji”: “”,
“country_flag_emoji_unicode”: “U+1F1FA U+1F1F8”,
“calling_code”: “1”,
“is_eu”: false
},
“time_zone”: {
“id”: “America/Los_Angeles”,
“current_time”: “2018-03-29T07:35:08-07:00”,
“gmt_offset”: -25200,
“code”: “PDT”,
“is_daylight_saving”: true
},
“currency”: {
“code”: “USD”,
“name”: “US Dollar”,
“plural”: “US dollars”,
“symbol”: “$”,
“symbol_native”: “$”
},
“connection”: {
“asn”: 25876,
“isp”: “Los Angeles Department of Water & Power”
}
}

What are the Differences Between Google Geolocation API and ipstack API?

Here are the differences between the ipstack API and the Google Geolocation API:

  • The ipstack API provides the geolocation corresponding to the IP address, but the Google Geolocation API does not take the IP address parameter. Google API automatically detects IP addresses with additional parameters like “considerIp”.
  • The ipstack API provides a detailed geolocation response. The API provides users with a rich response including latitude and longitude, as well as additional information such as country, city, zip code, time zone, currency, and language. Google Geolocation API, on the other hand, only gives latitude and longitude information.
  • The ipstack API provides responses in both JSON and XML format, and users can receive responses in their preferred format. The Google Geolocation API, on the other hand, only responds in JSON format, so users cannot receive responses in XML format.
  • The ipstack API’s pricing policy is more flexible. ipstack API offers its users multiple subscription plans suitable for every budget, including the free plan. Google Geolocation API has the pay-as-you-go model. In addition, we do not offer free use.
  • Google Geolocation API offers 100 requests per second, per user. On the other hand, no request limit is specified in the ipstack API.

Conclusion

In conclusion, geolocation APIs benefit businesses and developers in many ways. One of the most important of these is to improve user experience.

Google Geolocation API or ipstack API are very popular APIs that serve businesses and developers in this regard.

These APIs have their differences, pros, and cons. Developers and businesses who want to use one of these APIs can compare them according to their needs and use them with confidence.

FAQs

Q: What are the Use Cases of an IP Geolocation API?

A: The use cases of the IP geolocation API are quite wide. Some of them are as follows:

  • Delivering content based on geolocation information
  • Targeted advertising
  • Fraud detection
  • Providing security measures and personalized experiences

Q: What Endpoints Does the ipstack API Provide?

A: The ipstack API provides its users with three unique endpoints. These:

  • Standard IP Lookup: Provides detailed geolocation data corresponding to the IP address.
  • Bulk Lookup: Provides detailed geolocation data corresponding to multiple IP addresses.
  • Requester Lookup: Provides the IP address information of the requesting client.

Q: Why is the ipstack API a Popular IP Geolocation API?

A: The ipstack API is popular due to its large database, fast response time, and rich details in addition to geolocation information. In addition, its user-friendly interface and ability to provide responses in both JSON and XML format contribute to the preference of the API by users.

Q: What are the Key Differences Between Google Geolocation API and ipstack API?

A: The main differences between the Google Geolocation API and the ipstack API are mainly in the response formats and the details of the geolocation information. While the Google Geolocation API only provides latitude and longitude information, the ipstack API provides a rich response and provides responses in both JSON and XML formats.

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