ip-location-api 

Fast and customizable nodejs api to get geolocation information from ip address.
ip-location-api make a fast lookup by using in-memory database.

This api is created for server-side javascript like Node.js.
If you need client-side javascript which works in BROWSER, please try to use @iplookup/country or @iplookup/geocode.

It may take a few minutes on the first run because the database needs to be created.
To avoid this delay, you can generate the database in advance.
Please see the documentation below for instructions.

Synopsis

``javascript
import { lookup } from 'ip-location-api'
// or CJS format
// const { lookup } = require('ip-location-api')
// for module bandle (eg., webpack, next.js, etc.)
// import { lookup } from 'ip-location-api/pack'

var ip = "207.97.227.239"
var location = lookup(ip)
// If you use Asynchronouns version which is configured with smallMemory=true,
// var location = await lookup(ip)

console.log(location)
{
country: 'FR',
region1: 'NOR',
region1_name: 'Normandy',
region2: '27',
region2_name: 'Eure',
city: 'Heudicourt',
// metro: Defined only in US (Aug.2024)
timezone: 'Europe/Paris',
eu: 1,
latitude: 49.3335,
longitude: 1.6566,
area: 5,
postcode: 27860,
country_name: 'France',
country_native: 'France',
phone: [ 33 ],
continent: 'EU',
capital: 'Paris',
currency: [ 'EUR' ],
languages: [ 'fr' ],
continent_name: 'Europe'
}
`

Benchmark

I make a benchmark for making comparison with intel 12700 (2.1GHz), SSD, nodejs v20.
You can change the memory usage or lookup time, by customizing location information.

| benchmark | type | in-memory db | startup | lookup ipv4 | lookup ipv6 |
| ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- |
| ip-location-api
(default) | country | 6.9 MB | 3 ms | 0.362 μs/ip | 0.708 μs/ip |
| ip-location-api
(async) | country | 2.9 MB | 2 ms | 243 μs/ip | 255 μs/ip |
| ip-location-api | city | 62.9 MB | 14 ms | 0.751 μs/ip | 1.064 μs/ip |
| ip-location-api
(async) | city | 15.6 MB | 5 ms | 267 μs/ip | 271 μs/ip |
| geoip-lite | city | 136 MB | 54 ms | 1.616 μs/ip | 3.890 μs/ip |
| fast-geoip
(async) | city | 0MB | 4 ms | 1714 μs/ip | cannot lookup |

Installation

`bash
$ npm i ip-location-api
`

API

ip-location-api has two modes which are synchronous and asynchronous.
Synchronouns one load all data in-memory at startup time, thus it makes fast lookup.
Asynchronouns one load smaller data in-memory at startup time, and the other data is loaded from the hard drive for each lookup.

| type | memory usage | startup | lookup |
| ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- |
| Synchronouns | Large | Slow | Fast |
| Asynchronouns | Small | Fast | Slow |

If you have a enough memory, I recommend to use synchronouns one because lookup is over 300 times faster than asynchronouns one.

Field description

Note that as far as possible, the same field names as in geoip-lite are used, but some different field names are used.

| ip-location-api | geoip-lite | database |description |
| ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- |
| country | country | MaxMind | "2 letter" country code defined at ISO-3166-1 alpha-2 |
| region1 | region | MaxMind | region code which is short code for region1_name ISO 3166-2 |
| region1_name | ❌️ | MaxMind | first sub division name (multi language) |
| region2 | ❌️ | MaxMind | region code which is short code for region2_name ISO 3166-2 |
| region2_name | ❌️ | MaxMind | second sub division name (multi language) |
| city | city |MaxMind | city name (multi language) |
| metro | metro |MaxMind | Geolocation target code from Google |
| eu | eu | MaxMind | true: the member state of the European Union, undefined: for the other countries. This needs "country" field. |
| timezone | timezone | MaxMind | time zone associated with location |
| latitude | ll[0] | MaxMind | approximate WGS84 latitude |
| longitude | ll[1] | MaxMind | approximate WGS84 longitude |
| area | area | MaxMind | The radius in kilometers around the specified location where the IP address is likely to be. maxmind blog |
| postcode | ❌️ | MaxMind | region-specific postal code near the IP address |
| ❌️ | range | MaxMind | We removes range information for optimization |
| country_name | ❌️ | Countries| country name|
| country_native | ❌️ | Countries| country name in native language|
| continent | ❌️ | Countries| continent short code|
| continent_name | ❌️ | Countries| continent name|
| capital | ❌️ | Countries | capital name |
| phone | ❌️ | Countries| international country calling codes |
| currency | ❌️ | Countries | list of commonly used currencies |
| languages | ❌️ | Countries | list of commonly used languages |

Setup the configuration

You can configure the api by 3 way.
- CLI parameters: ILA_FIELDS=latitude,longitude
- Environment variables: ILA_FIELDS=latitude,longitude
- Javascript: await reload({fields: 'latitude,longitude'}) .

The name of CLI prameter and environment variables are same.


Conf key in reload(conf) is named with "LOWER CAMEL", CLI or ENV parameter is named with "SNAKE" with adding "ILA_" (come from Ip-Location-Api).

| reload(conf) | CLI or ENV | default | description |
| ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- |
| fields | ILA_FIELDS | country | You can change the fields to be retrived from MaxMind. When you set "all", all fields are displayed. |
| addCountryInfo | ILA_ADD_COUNTRY_INFO | false | "true" make to add the country information from Countries. This needs "country" field. |
| dataDir | ILA_DATA_DIR | ../data | Directory for database file |
| tmpDataDir | ILA_TMP_DATA_DIR | ../tmp | Directory for temporary file |
| apiDir | ILA_API_DIR | .. | Directory for ip-location-api |
| smallMemory | ILA_SMALL_MEMORY | false | false: synchronouns, true: asynchronouns |
| smallMemoryFileSize | ILA_SMALL_MEMORY_FILE_SIZE | 4096 | Max file size for asynchronouns data (no change is recommended) |
| licenseKey | ILA_LICENSE_KEY | redist | By setting MaxMind License key, you can download latest version of database from MaxMind server. By setting to "redist", you can download the database from node-geolite2-redist repository which re-distribute the GeoLite2 database. |
| ipLocationDb | ILA_IP_LOCATION_DB | | When you need only "country" field, you can use ip-location-db data |
| downloadType | ILA_DOWNLOAD_TYPE | reuse | By setting to "false", "tmpDataDir" directory is deleted every update. "reuse" dose not delete "tmpDataDir" and re-use "tmpDataDir"'s database if the database file dose not update. |
| autoUpdate | ILA_AUTO_UPDATE | default | By setting to "false", it dose not update automatically. "default" updates twice weekly. You can set CRON PATTERN FORMAT which is provided by cron with UTC timezone (For example, ILA_AUTO_UPDATE="0 1 *" for daily update). |
| multiDbDir | ILA_MULTI_DB_DIR | false | If you use multiple "dataDir", please make this value to "true" |
| series | ILA_SERIES | GeoLite2 | By setting to "GeoIP2", you can use premium database "GeoIP2" |
| language | ILA_LANGUAGE | en | You can choose "de", "en", "es", "fr", "ja", "pt-BR", "ru", "zh-CN". By changing, the language of "region1_name", "region2_name", "city" fields are changed |
| silent | ILA_SILENT | false | true: deactivate unnecessary console.log |
| skipInitialReload | ILA_SKIP_INITIAL_RELOAD | false | true: Skips the initial database setup, reducing startup time when you run reload separately. This also reduces build-time and memory usage in build environments. |

Update database

`bash
npm run updatedb
`

or

`javascript
import { updateDb } from 'ip-location-api'
await updateDb(setting)
`


There are three database update way.
- ILA_LICENSE_KEY=redist
- ILA_LICENSE_KEY=YOUR_GEOLITE2_LICENSE_KEY
- ILA_IP_LOCATION_DB=YOUR_CHOOSEN_DATABSE

When you set "ILA_LICENSE_KEY=redist" which is the dafault setting, it downloads GeoLite2 database from the redistribution repository node-geolite2-redist.

When you set "ILA_LICENSE_KEY=YOUR_GEOLITE2_LICENSE_KEY", it downloads GeoLite2 dastabase from the MaxMind provided server.
YOUR_GEOLITE2_LICENSE_KEY should be replaced by a valid GeoLite2 license key. Please follow instructions provided by MaxMind to obtain a license key.

When you set "ILA_IP_LOCATION_DB=YOUR_CHOOSEN_DATABSE", it downloads from the ip-location-db (country type only).
You can "YOUR_CHOOSEN_DATABSE" from ip-location-db with country type. For example, "geolite2-geo-whois-asn" is wider IP range country database which is equivalent to GeoLite2 database result for GeoLite2 country covered IP range and geo-whois-asn-country for the other IP range.
The other example, "geo-whois-asn" is CC0 licensed database, if you are unable to apply the GeoLite2 License.


It takes a few minutes to create the database.
Therefore, if you are releasing to production without a database, it is recommended that you create the database first, using commands before executing the release.


After v2.0, the database is created automatically at initial startup, and updated automatically by setting ILA_AUTO_UPDATE which updates twice weekly with default setting.

How to use with an example

When you need only geographic coordinates, please set "ILA_FIELDS=latitude,longitude".
You need to create a database for each configuration.
After v2.0.0, the database is created at initial running (which takes some seconds), and auto update with ILA_AUTO_UPDATE which update twice weekly with default setting.

The database is created by following CLI

`bash
$ npm run updatedb ILA_FIELDS=latitude,longitude
`

or

`bash
$ ILA_FIELDS=latitude,longitude # set environment variable
$ npm run updatedb
`

or you can create database with 'create.js' which includes the following.

`javascript
await updateDb({fields:['latitude', 'longitude']})
`


The CLI command for using app.js which uses ip-location-api is necessary to start with following CLI parameter

`bash
$ node app.js ILA_FIELDS=latitude,longitude
`

or environment variable

`bash
$ ILA_FIELDS=latitude,longitude # set environment variable
$ node app.js
`

or you can write down configuration in reload function of app.js as

`javascript
await reload({fields:['latitude', 'longitude']})
// or await reload({fields:'latitude,longitude'})
`


If you need all the data in above field table, setting "ILA_FIELDS=all" and "ILA_ADD_COUNTRY_INFO=true" is the one.


| benchmark | in-memory db | startup | lookup ipv4 | lookup ipv6 |
| ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- |
| longitude,latitude | 46.5 MB | 10 ms | 0.428 μs/ip | 0.776 μs/ip |
| all | 76.4 MB | 18 ms | 1.054 μs/ip | 1.348 μs/ip |

For module bundler (webpack, vite, next.js, etc)

Some module bundlers cannot work with original database system.
If module bundlers could not work with ip-location-api, please try to import module as following.
It works almost same as original module.

`js
import { lookup } from 'ip-location-api/pack'
`


It would be better to set directories for database files which have write permission.
Without write permission directories, you cannot use this module.

`bash
ILA_DATA_DIR=/your_database_directory
ILA_TMP_DATA_DIR=/your_tmporary_directory_for_database
``

Node.js version

This library supports Node.js >= 18 for ESM and CJS.
For Node.js 14 and 16, please try to v3.

License and EULA

There are multiple licenses in this library, one for the software library, and the others for the datadata.
Please read the LICENSE and EULA files for details.


The license for the software itself is published under MIT License by sapics.


The GeoLite2 database comes with certain restrictions and obligations, most notably:
- You cannot prevent the library from updating the databases.
- You cannot use the GeoLite2 data:
- for FCRA purposes,
- to identify specific households or individuals.

You can read the latest version of GeoLite2 EULA.
GeoLite2 database is provided under CC BY-SA 4.0 by MaxMind, so, you need to create attribusion to MaxMind for using GeoLite2 database.


The database of Countries is published under MIT license by Annexare Studio.