GeoIP Release Notes - 2022 Archive

Due to the December holidays, we will not be providing database updates for certain databases this Friday, December 23. The following GeoIP2 and GeoLite2 databases will not have their regularly scheduled updates:

• GeoIP2 Country
• GeoIP2 City
• GeoIP2 Connection Type
• GeoIP2 ISP
• GeoIP2 Enterprise
• GeoLite2 Country
• GeoLite2 City

The GeoIP2 Anonymous IP database will continue to update as scheduled.

We will resume our regular update schedule beginning on Tuesday, December 27.

We now update the GeoIP2 Connection Type databases twice weekly on Tuesdays and Fridays (instead of weekly). We made this change so that data corrections and updates can be deployed more quickly.

If you would like to take advantage of these more frequent updates, you will have to update the schedule of your GeoIP2 database downloads. You can find documentation on updating your GeoIP2 databases on our developer’s site.

GeoNames Monthly Diff Report (December 2022)

GeoIP2 and GeoLite2 databases incorporate GeoNames geographical data, which is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Monthly updates to GeoNames data are incorporated into our databases as we refresh them. Above you will find a CSV report of these changes for the month of December as they relate to the following fields:

• geoname_id
• country_name
• country_code
• city_name
• subdivision_1_iso_code
• subdivision_2_iso_code

Note that the values for the ‘old’ and ‘new’ columns for a given field only differ for the field defined in the ‘diff_in’ column.

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, we will not be providing database updates for certain databases this Friday, November 25. The following GeoIP2 databases will not have their regularly scheduled update:

• GeoIP2 Country
• GeoIP2 City
• GeoIP2 ISP
• GeoIP2 Enterprise

The GeoIP2 Anonymous IP database will continue to update as scheduled.

We will resume our regular update schedule beginning on Tuesday, November 29.

GeoNames Monthly Diff Report (November 2022)

GeoIP2 and GeoLite2 databases incorporate GeoNames geographical data, which is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Monthly updates to GeoNames data are incorporated into our databases as we refresh them. Above you will find a CSV report of these changes for the month of November as they relate to the following fields:

• geoname_id
• country_name
• country_code
• city_name
• subdivision_1_iso_code
• subdivision_2_iso_code

Note that the values for the ‘old’ and ‘new’ columns for a given field only differ for the field defined in the ‘diff_in’ column.

We’ve launched a new Sandbox Environment for technical validation and testing of your integration with our GeoIP and minFraud web services. The Sandbox environment is available for all paying MaxMind customers.

Learn more about the Sandbox environment on our Knowledge Base.

You can also read more about testing GeoIP web services on the Sandbox.

GeoNames Monthly Diff Report (October 2022)

GeoIP2 and GeoLite2 databases incorporate GeoNames geographical data, which is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Monthly updates to GeoNames data are incorporated into our databases as we refresh them. Above you will find a CSV report of these changes for the month of October as they relate to the following fields:

• geoname_id
• country_name
• country_code
• city_name
• subdivision_1_iso_code
• subdivision_2_iso_code

Note that the values for the ‘old’ and ‘new’ columns for a given field only differ for the field defined in the ‘diff_in’ column.

We have made some changes to how we determine the registered country associated with an IP address. We estimate that this change will affect around 1% of IP addresses with a registered country value. The following databases and web services will be affected:

• GeoIP2 Country database
• GeoIP2 City database
• GeoIP2 Enterprise database
• GeoLite2 Country database
• GeoLite2 City database
• GeoIP2 Country web service
• GeoIP2 City Plus web service
• GeoIP2 Insights web service
• GeoLite2 Country web service
• GeoLite2 City web service
• minFraud Insights web service
• minFraud Factors web service

In some cases where we are no longer confident in the registered country for an IP, it will be removed. In other cases, the value may be changed.

You can learn more about the /registered_country output in the API schema for GeoIP2 web services.

You can learn more about the difference between registered country and the IP geolocation on our Knowledge Base.

The time zone name for Kyiv, Ukraine, which covers most of the country, has been updated.

Previously, the time zone was named Europe/Kiev. It has been updated to be named Europe/Kyiv following updated naming conventions from version 2022b of the IANA time zone database.

The following products and services will see the updated time zone name:

• GeoIP2 City database
• GeoIP2 Enterprise database
• GeoIP2 City Plus web service
• GeoIP2 Insights web service
• minFraud Insights
• minFraud Factors
• GeoLite2 City database
• GeoLite2 City web service

GeoNames Monthly Diff Report (September 2022)

GeoIP2 and GeoLite2 databases incorporate GeoNames geographical data, which is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Monthly updates to GeoNames data are incorporated into our databases as we refresh them. Above you will find a CSV report of these changes for the month of September as they relate to the following fields:

• geoname_id
• country_name
• country_code
• city_name
• subdivision_1_iso_code
• subdivision_2_iso_code

Note that the values for the ‘old’ and ‘new’ columns for a given field only differ for the field defined in the ‘diff_in’ column.

We have completed work to fix a geolocation bug affecting some IPv6 addresses. All databases and web services should now have the updated data.

See the release note below for more information about this bug.

We have released an updated version of the GeoIP2 Enterprise database, which fixes a geolocation bug affecting some IPv6 addresses.

See the release note below for more information about this bug.

Customers should download the updated GeoIP2 Enterprise database at their earliest convenience.

We have released an updated version of the GeoIP2 City database, which fixes a geolocation bug affecting some IPv6 addresses.

See the release note below for more information about this bug.

Customers should download the updated GeoIP2 City database at their earliest convenience.

We are aware of a bug in which databases and web services have been returning geolocation location coordinates of 0,0 for IPv6 addresses which are geolocated only down to the country-level.

The following databases and web services are affected:

• GeoIP2 City database
• GeoIP2 Enterprise database
• GeoIP Legacy City web service
• GeoIP Legacy Omni/Insights web service
• GeoIP2 City Plus web service
• GeoIP2 Insights web service
• minFraud Insights web service
• minFraud Factors web service

We have a fix, and it will be released later today.

The updated GeoIP2 City database is now available for download.

Web service users will see the corrected data as soon as the fix has been implemented.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

GeoNames Monthly Diff Report (August 2022)

GeoIP2 and GeoLite2 databases incorporate GeoNames geographical data, which is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Monthly updates to GeoNames data are incorporated into our databases as we refresh them. Above you will find a CSV report of these changes for the month of August as they relate to the following fields:

• geoname_id
• country_name
• country_code
• city_name
• subdivision_1_iso_code
• subdivision_2_iso_code

Note that the values for the ‘old’ and ‘new’ columns for a given field only differ for the field defined in the ‘diff_in’ column.

* This month’s update corrects an error in which several subdivisions in China had their names populated into the city_name field by error. The city_name field for these subdivisions has been removed.

GeoNames Monthly Diff Report (July 2022)

GeoIP2 and GeoLite2 databases incorporate GeoNames geographical data, which is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Monthly updates to GeoNames data are incorporated into our databases as we refresh them. Above you will find a CSV report of these changes for the month of July as they relate to the following fields:

• geoname_id
• country_name
• country_code
• city_name
• subdivision_1_iso_code
• subdivision_2_iso_code

Note that the values for the ‘old’ and ‘new’ columns for a given field only differ for the field defined in the ‘diff_in’ column.

GeoNames Monthly Diff Report (June 2022)

GeoIP2 and GeoLite2 databases incorporate GeoNames geographical data, which is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Monthly updates to GeoNames data are incorporated into our databases as we refresh them. Above you will find a CSV report of these changes for the month of June as they relate to the following fields:

• geoname_id
• country_name
• country_code
• city_name
• subdivision_1_iso_code
• subdivision_2_iso_code

Note that the values for the ‘old’ and ‘new’ columns for a given field only differ for the field defined in the ‘diff_in’ column.

In line with the announcement on our blog from 2020, there will be several changes to the data in our GeoIP Legacy web services beginning today. The following web services are affected:

• GeoIP Legacy City
• GeoIP Legacy City/ISP/Org
• GeoIP Legacy Insights (formerly known as Omni)

The following data changes have been made:

1. Region codes: The legacy web services historically returned region codes in the FIPS 10-4 standard (for all countries except for the US and Canada). Now, region codes worldwide will be returned in the ISO 3166-2 standard.
2. Area codes: Area code fields will now return blank.
3. Country/Region/City names: Country, region, and city names will now come from GeoNames.

For more information, read the full announcement on our blog from 2020.

Please note that associated changes to the minFraud Legacy web services are also being made.

Starting this Friday, May 27, GeoLite databases will be updated twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Fridays. The following databases are affected:

• GeoLite2 Country Database
• GeoLite2 City Database
• GeoLite2 ASN Database

The twice weekly database updates will allow us to more quickly incorporate data corrections.

Please update your integration to download updates according to this new schedule.

For more information about database updates see the documentation our Developer Portal and Knowledge Base.

GeoNames Monthly Diff Report (May 2022)

GeoIP2 and GeoLite2 databases incorporate GeoNames geographical data, which is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Monthly updates to GeoNames data are incorporated into our databases as we refresh them. Above you will find a CSV report of these changes for the month of May as they relate to the following fields:

• geoname_id
• country_name
• country_code
• city_name
• subdivision_1_iso_code
• subdivision_2_iso_code

Note that the values for the ‘old’ and ‘new’ columns for a given field only differ for the field defined in the ‘diff_in’ column.

GeoNames Monthly Diff Report (April 2022)

GeoIP2 and GeoLite2 databases incorporate GeoNames geographical data, which is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Monthly updates to GeoNames data are incorporated into our databases as we refresh them. Above you will find a CSV report of these changes for the month of April as they relate to the following fields:

• geoname_id
• country_name
• country_code
• city_name
• subdivision_1_iso_code
• subdivision_2_iso_code

Note that the values for the ‘old’ and ‘new’ columns for a given field only differ for the field defined in the ‘diff_in’ column.

GeoNames Monthly Diff Report (March 2022)

GeoIP2 and GeoLite2 databases incorporate GeoNames geographical data, which is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Monthly updates to GeoNames data are incorporated into our databases as we refresh them. Above you will find a CSV report of these changes for the month of March as they relate to the following fields:

• geoname_id
• country_name
• country_code
• city_name
• subdivision_1_iso_code
• subdivision_2_iso_code

Note that the values for the ‘old’ and ‘new’ columns for a given field only differ for the field defined in the ‘diff_in’ column.

IP addresses that are geolocated to the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk currently return Ukraine for the country in MaxMind’s products and services.

MaxMind’s IP geolocation products and services use GeoNames to determine the name of the country in which an IP address is located. At this time, we do not have plans to diverge from GeoNames for IP addresses located in disputed regions.

Due to the holidays on Monday, February 21, database updates scheduled for Tuesday, February 22 will be delayed by about one day.

The following database updates will be delayed:

• GeoIP2 Country
• GeoIP2 City
• GeoIP2 Connection Type
• GeoIP2 ISP
• GeoIP2 Enterprise
• GeoLite2 Country
• GeoLite2 City
• GeoLite2 ASN

The GeoIP Legacy database updates will also be delayed.

The GeoIP2 Anonymous IP database will continue to update as scheduled.

We will resume our regular update schedule beginning on Friday, February 25.

GeoNames Monthly Diff Report (February 2022)

GeoIP2 and GeoLite2 databases incorporate GeoNames geographical data, which is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Monthly updates to GeoNames data are incorporated into our databases as we refresh them. Above you will find a CSV report of these changes for the month of February as they relate to the following fields:

• geoname_id
• country_name
• country_code
• city_name
• subdivision_1_iso_code
• subdivision_2_iso_code

Note that the values for the ‘old’ and ‘new’ columns for a given field only differ for the field defined in the ‘diff_in’ column.

* This month’s update has a large number of changes to the GeoNames ID for locations in China due to some changes in how we process GeoNames data for China.

We have deprecated the dialup values for connection_type and user_type in our GeoIP2 products and services:

• GeoIP2 Connection Type database
  • connection_type no longer has the possible value of Dialup
• GeoIP2 Enterprise database
  • connection_type no longer has the possible value of Dialup
  • user_type no longer has the possible value of dialup
• GeoIP2 Insights web service
  • user_type no longer has the possible value of dialup

You can see a list of possible values for the connection_type data point in our documentation for the GeoIP2 Connection Type database.

You can see a list of possible values for the user_type data point in the API schema for our GeoIP2 web services.

We have added data containing the mobile country code and mobile network code to several of our GeoIP2 product and services. Mobile country code and mobile network code data uniquely identify mobile network operators (carriers). This data can be used for carrier segmentation and targeting as well as general analytics. Learn more about mobile country code data on Wikipedia.

This data will be included in the following GeoIP2 products and services:

• GeoIP2 ISP database
• GeoIP2 Enterprise database
• GeoIP2 City Plus web service
• GeoIP2 Insights web service
• minFraud Insights web service
• minFraud Factors web service

Database users

The mobile_country_code and mobile_network_code data will be included in all new releases of the GeoIP2 ISP and Enterprise databases starting with today’s release.

CSV file users

The new data columns will be added to the following files:

• GeoIP2 ISP database
  • GeoIP2-ISP-Blocks-IPv4.csv
  • GeoIP2-ISP-Blocks-IPv6.csv
• GeoIP2 Enterprise database
  • GeoIP2-Enterprise-ISP.csv

See our developer documentation for the GeoIP2 ISP and Enterprise databases for more information about the files. You can also download a sample CSV database containing the new data columns for GeoIP2 ISP and Enterprise from our developer’s site.

MMDB file users

You may need to update your MMDB reader to support lookups containing the new output when it is released. You can find a sample MMDB file with mobile_country_code and mobile_network_code on our GitHub page.

Web service users

The new data will be included in the /traits object:

• /traits/mobile_country_code
• /traits/mobile_network_code

Our client APIs will be updated in the coming weeks to handle the new data. Make sure to keep your client API up to date to start taking advantage of this data.

If you are interfacing directly with our REST API, you can begin receiving the new data right away.

GeoNames Monthly Diff Report (January 2022)

GeoIP2 and GeoLite2 databases incorporate GeoNames geographical data, which is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Monthly updates to GeoNames data are incorporated into our databases as we refresh them. Above you will find a CSV report of these changes for the month of January as they relate to the following fields:

• geoname_id
• country_name
• country_code
• city_name
• subdivision_1_iso_code
• subdivision_2_iso_code

Note that the values for the ‘old’ and ‘new’ columns for a given field only differ for the field defined in the ‘diff_in’ column.

We’re dropping the “Precision” from our GeoIP2 web service names to make the closest equivalent between our web services and databases clearer, and to make it clear that IP geolocation is not precise enough to locate individuals or street addresses. You can learn more about the accuracy and limitations to IP geolocation on our knowledge base.

We are also renaming our city-level geolocation web service to be GeoIP2 City Plus. We have added “Plus” to this web service to make it clearer that the city-level geolocation web service also contains IP network data. You can see a list of all data points in the GeoIP2 City Plus web service on our main website.

Nothing has changed about how to use our web services, and no changes are required to your current integration.

Our GeoIP2 web services will be renamed as follows: