What is Confidence Area?

Because many users share the same public IP address — through carrier-grade NAT on mobile networks, or shared broadband in homes and offices — it's not always possible to place an IP at a precise point. The Confidence Area makes that explicit rather than hiding it behind a single coordinate that may be misleading.

The Confidence Area is an estimate of where else an IP address may be found if it is assigned dynamically or shared between consumers. It's derived from our router service area analysis and ISP allocation patterns. It is an estimate, not a boundary or a guarantee, and it says nothing about how the address is distributed within it.

Polygon size is not a confidence measure. The confidence value comes from two independent processes, router service area estimation and field evidence, and is high only when both agree. A large Confidence Area can accompany a high confidence value.

For how to use country, area and pin on a lookup, see What an IP address confidence area is (and is not). For how the separate confidence value is scored, see What is a Confidence value?