Diagnosing Geographical Location / IP Address

We see various problems reported, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, which may involve geographical or network relationships.

Why can't I regain access to my blog, that I stopped publishing 5 years ago?

and

Why can't I see my blog?

and

Why does my dashboard show up in a language that I can't read?

With questions like these, it helps to know how and where the owner and / or readers of the blog get Internet service.

Geographical location and IP address are useful details, when diagnosing various problems with our blogs.

• Access and authentication.
• Connectivity.
• Language.

Address / location diagnosis is not a difficult procedure, given the right tools. As an example, click on each of these three links, one by one. Print or copy text details, as convenient - then combine and compare the details, from the different services.

• IP-Details.com : Find your IP address Information
• IP Location Finder - Geolocation
• Locate IP Address Lookup Show on Map

There are other similar tools, that I may identify later.

I'll show each location discovery tool, from various geographical locations. This will illustrate the uncertainties of geographical vs geolocated location - and why use of multiple ("redundant") online diagnostic tools is a good idea.

I clicked on each link, twice - while connected differently - and made the screen prints from these geographical locations. I may show additional locations as I use them.

• 22 May, 2016: MacDonalds, Martinez CA
• 23 May, 2016: StarBucks, Martinez CA

"IP-Details.com"
Date: 22 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Austin, TX
Geographical Location: MacDonalds, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 64.134.233.29
Provider: MacDonalds

"IP Location"
Date: 22 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Valencia, CA
Geographical Location: MacDonalds, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 64.134.233.29
Provider: MacDonalds

"Info Sniper"
Date: 22 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: (Los Angeles, CA)
Geographical Location: MacDonalds, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 64.134.233.29
Provider: MacDonalds

"IP-Details.com"
Date: 22 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Bedminster, NJ
Geographical Location: MacDonalds, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 70.197.3.7
Provider: Verizon Cellular

"IP Location"
Date: 22 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Rohnert Park, CA
Geographical Location: MacDonalds, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 70.197.3.7
Provider: Verizon Cellular

"Info Sniper"
Date: 22 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: (Los Angeles CA)
Geographical Location: MacDonalds, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 70.197.3.7
Provider: Verizon Cellular



---

"IP-Details.com"
Date: 23 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location:
Geographical Location: StarBucks, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 50.247.110.187
Provider: StarBucks

"IP Location"
Date: 23 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Menlo Park CA
Geographical Location: StarBucks, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 50.247.110.187
Provider: StarBucks

"Info Sniper"
Date: 23 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Milpitas CA
Geographical Location: StarBucks, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 50.247.110.187
Provider: StarBucks

"IP-Details.com"
Date: 23 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Bedminster, NJ
Geographical Location: StarBucks, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 70.197.12.193
Provider: Verizon Cellular

"IP Location"
Date: 23 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Salinas CA
Geographical Location: StarBucks, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 70.197.12.193
Provider: Verizon Cellular

"Info Sniper"
Date: 23 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: South San Francisco CA
Geographical Location: StarBucks, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 70.197.12.193
Provider: Verizon Cellular

"IP-Details.com"
Date: 5 June, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Bedminster, NJ
Geographical Location: Martinez, CA
IP Address: 70.213.0.103
Provider: Verizon Cellular

"IP Location"
Date: 5 June, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Berkeley CA
Geographical Location: Martinez, CA
IP Address: 70.213.0.103
Provider: Verizon Cellular

"Info Sniper"
Date: 5 June, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Oakland CA
Geographical Location: Martinez, CA
IP Address: 70.213.0.103
Provider: Verizon Cellular

"IP-Details.com"
Date: 2 March, 2017
Diagnosed Location: ?
Geographical Location: Berkeley Inn, Berkeley CA
IP Address: 50.247.98.197
Provider: ?

"IP Location"
Date: 2 March, 2017
Diagnosed Location: Berkeley CA
Geographical Location: Berkeley Inn, Berkeley CA
IP Address: 50.247.98.197
Provider: Comcast Cable

"Info Sniper"
Date: 2 March, 2017
Diagnosed Location: Oakland CA
Geographical Location: Berkeley Inn, Berkeley CA
IP Address: 50.247.98.197
Provider: Comcast Cable



Geolocation is a useful diagnostic tool, when diagnosing various Blogger problems - but geolocated details, using the above tools (or complementary procedures), need to be persistently cross checked. Tomorrow, or from a different location or service, one may see different results.

Access and authentication.

Sometimes when trying to regain access to a dormant blog, you'll be advised to access from the previously used computer. Google uses location comparisons, as part of demographic authentication.

Connectivity.

Some blog disconnections may have geographical origin. Knowing where you, and other blog readers may be (or appear to be), can be useful in determining a geographical relationship between problems.

Language.

Blogger uses geolocation to determine appropriate local language. Knowing where you are - or appear to be - can be useful in determining why you may be seeing the Blogger dashboard and / or your blog, in a given language.

The bottom line.

Along with blog address / name / URL verification, location diagnosis is a useful procedure - but the results need to be considered selectively.

---

When diagnosing various access / connectivity problems with #Blogger, knowing the IP address and location of the reported problem is useful. It's easy to get the desired details - but the details may need to be verified, carefully.

https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/4LkxHxYsj1c/discussion

GeoLocation, And Our Use Of Blogger

Recently, we've seen signs of confusion, from people who have problems with their Internet service, which shows them moving around their geographic region.

I logged in to Blogger, with no problem, yesterday. Today, after logging in successfully, I am asked for more details, to prove my identity!!

This blog owner has a problem with location based security.

Not all Blogger blog owners or readers understand that Country Code Alias Redirection, and the ability to access one's Blogger / Google account (and prevent others from accessing it), both depend upon the ability to determine the geographical location of each blog reader.

Various Google features, like Country Code Alias Redirection, and Google login, use geolocation, to identify the location of each reader.

For people using the Internet, Geolocation uses the Internet connection, to determine physical location. Unfortunately, for many blog owners, the Internet Service Provider, the Internet connection, and the Internet customer (or Blogger blog reader) may each be in a different location.

My own location - even when I am at home - may, at times, appear to move in a 30 mile radius. My ISP routes my connection through any of half a dozen different connection points, in my region, depending upon current network activity.

Some smaller ISPs, located near a country border, may actually get service through a larger ISP in another country. Customers of the smaller ISP may appear, through geolocation, to reside in the other country.

This can be an unfortunate problem, with country code alias redirection, with language detection, with login authentication, and / or the Location option in Post Editor.

People located in one country, reading an unfamiliar language, or seeing their latest post show up in the wrong province / state - or even country - may not appreciate the confusion which is caused. And people who login, and appear to move from city to city in the region, grow tired of having to prove their identity - after successfully entering account name and password.

Thanks to domain based filtering, this may become a security issue for some blog owners, near country borders, who may not be able to maintain / publish their blogs.

Unfortunately, geolocation, using the Internet Address (aka "IP" address), will never return consistent and precise results. Any location based processes will always provide fuzzy results, thanks to Internet services which load balance their network connections.