Re: ONLINE-ADS>> location ??

Steven Connell (rand3_at_haven.ios.com)
Wed, 02 Oct 1996 09:37:52 -0700

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Andrew asked
Is there any reliable way to tell if the person browsing
your site is from a particular city??? ie, can I display
Austin ads to Austin people, and Boston ads to Boston people ???
----

The domain name reveals the browser's country of origin. In the United
States, it also tells you if he/she is coming through a government,
military, nonprofit, or educational institution. You can get your server
to serve different information according to the domain name. However,
I'm not aware of any way to know the city of origin except requiring them
to fill out a form when they arrive on your site.

When you go to many stores, the clerk asks for your zip code so they know
where their customers are coming from. Maybe you could ask visitors for
their zip code on your home page, then present information based on the
zip.

[Note from moderator: A fair percentage of users with .com, .org and
possibly .net are from outside the United States, so even those domains are
not a reliable indicator of country. Several access log analysis packages
have built in databases that map each .com, .org, .net, and .edu domain to
the city of the domain's registration with the Internic. Even this does
not give much accuracy, unless you also filter out those domains from all
national service providers and national companys (e.g. ibm.com, aol.com),
because users with these domains do not necessarily reside in the city
indicated in the Internic registration.

One way to display ads related to a person's city is to get them to
register at your site when they first visit and then remember their
"cookie" when they return again. --Cliff]

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