IP Geolocation

Geolocate website visitors from their IPs

Abstract API's IP Geolocation service maps IP addresses to geographic locations, providing country, city, region, latitude/longitude, timezone, ISP, and connection type data. The API is simple — send an IP, get back structured location data. Part of Abstract's suite of utility APIs. For OpenClaw agents, IP geolocation is useful for location-aware skills — detecting where a web visitor is from, customizing responses based on geography, or logging access patterns. It can also help identify VPN/proxy usage or enrich analytics data with location context.

Tags: maps, geolocation

Category: Geocoding

Use Cases

  • Detect visitor locations for analytics or personalization in web projects
  • Identify VPN/proxy usage from IP connection type data
  • Enrich log data with geographic information for security monitoring

Tips

  • For higher free volumes, use ipapi.co (1,000/day) or ip-api.com (no key needed)
  • Cache IP geolocation results — they rarely change for static IPs
  • Use for approximate location only — never rely on it for security-critical decisions

Known Issues & Gotchas

  • Free tier is only 1,000 requests/month — consider ipapi.co for more generous free limits
  • VPN and mobile carrier IPs often geolocate to the wrong city
  • IPv6 geolocation is less accurate than IPv4 in many databases

Frequently Asked Questions

How accurate is IP geolocation?

Country-level accuracy is ~99%. City-level accuracy varies: ~80% in developed countries, lower in regions with less internet infrastructure. It's good enough for general location context, not precise GPS-level tracking.

Are there free alternatives?

Yes. ipapi.co offers 1,000 free requests/day (not month). ip-api.com is free for non-commercial use with no key needed. For self-hosted, MaxMind's GeoLite2 database is free.

Can I geolocate my own IP?

Yes. Omit the ip_address parameter and the API returns geolocation data for the requesting IP. Useful for your agent to know its own server location.