Pioneering Precision: BigDataCloud's Revolutionary IP Geolocation Solution Earns US Patent
Updated: 29 July 2025
BigDataCloud's IP geolocation technology has been granted a US patent: US Patent No. 11,792,110 B2 (publication US20210234790A1). This post explains what the patent covers and why it matters.
What the patent covers
The patent protects a method for determining the geographic location of IP addresses by mapping the internet's actual routing infrastructure — specifically, by identifying which access router is responsible for delivering traffic to a given IP address, and calculating the geographic service area that router covers.
This is a fundamentally different approach from traditional IP geolocation, which relies on WHOIS registration data, user submissions, or reverse DNS records. Those methods tell you where an IP address is registered. Our patented method tells you where it is operationally deployed — where traffic is actually being delivered.
For a detailed explanation of the methodology, read The Next Generation IP Geolocation Service.
The five steps of the patented process
- Non-intrusive discovery — Systematically mapping the entire routable IP address space to identify all public routing paths worldwide, without disrupting any networks.
- Router interface classification — Recording and classifying every detected global router interface by its role: access (delivers to end users), core (routes within an AS), or edge/border (routes between ASes).
- Service area estimation — Using a curated set of IP addresses with independently verified locations (ground truth data) to calculate the actual geographic coverage area for each access router interface.
- Precise location prediction — For any IP address, identifying the nearest access router interface and using its verified service area to determine the IP's operational location.
- Confidence reporting — Publishing not just a location but a confidence indicator and confidence area polygon, so users know the reliability and geographic bounds of each result.
Why this matters
The grant of US Patent No. 11,792,110 B2 confirms that this methodology is genuinely novel — there was no prior art that accomplished location determination this way. For users of BigDataCloud's APIs, that means the accuracy advantages are structural, not incremental. The locations we return reflect where IP addresses are actually in use in the real world, updated continuously as the internet's routing topology changes.
We publish daily accuracy figures in our IP Geolocation Accuracy Report, so the quality of the data is independently verifiable rather than asserted.
Get started
Our patented geolocation technology is available through our IP Geolocation API package. Create a free account to get started, or read the getting started guide for integration details.