IP Locator:Transition

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Overview

Melissa Data has recently announced the release of our new generation IP Locator Web Service. This new version leverages newer more accurate and more up to date IP Location data.

Improvements

This Service Includes Several Improvements Including:

• More comprehensive set of global IP4 Addresses (covers 99.999 % of the internet)
• Leverages a “living network” from mobile devices and billions of real-time data points
• Additional appends such as ‘Connection Speed’ and ‘Connection Type’
• Updated Weekly

With the acquisition of this advanced data, it is no longer feasible for Melissa Data to support the older IP V2 Web Service data. The IP V2 Web Service is being deprecated and the service will no longer be accessible after June 15th, 2016. Even though the IP Locator V2 Web Service will no longer be available, we are confident that you will find that our newer IP Locator V4 Web Service can do everything the old service did, and more. Please switch over to our new Web service as soon as possible.

Access and License

All existing IP Locator Web Service subscribers will automatically be given access to the new IP Locator V4 Web Service. When accessing the new IP Locator V4 Web Service, the same License Key can be used. All royalties according to the subscription agreement will remain the same.

Data Differences

In order to ensure no loss of data, all current data points in the legacy IP Locator V2 Web Service are also available in the IP Locator V4 Web Service including:

• ISP Name
• Domain Name
• City
• Zip
• Region
• Country Name
• Country Abbreviation
• Latitude
• Longitude

The IP Locator V4 Web Service also comes with additional data points, including:

Data Point	Description
Connection Speed	The connection speed associated with this IP address. Possible values are: dialup, broadband, and ultra broadband.
Connection Type	The type of connection used by this IP address. Possible values are: dialup, wired, wifi, mobile, and satellite.
UTC	The GMT offset for the area the IP address is located in.
Continent	The continent where the IP address is located.

When switching over to the IP Locator V4, you automatically have access to these new data.

URL/Endpoint

The IP Locator V2 Endpoints are defined as follows:

Protocol	URL
SOAP	https://iplocator.melissadata.net/v2/soap/service.svc
SOAP:WSDL	https://iplocator.melissadata.net/v2/soap/service.svc?wsdl
SOAP:Flat WSDL	https://iplocator.melissadata.net/v2/soap/service.wsdl
XML	https://iplocator.melissadata.net/v2/xml/service.svc
REST	https://iplocator.melissadata.net/v2/rest/service.svc

The IP Locator V4 Endpoints are defined as follows:

Use	URL
Standard	http://globalip.melissadata.net/v4/web/iplocation/doiplocation
Secure	https://globalip.melissadata.net/v4/web/iplocation/doiplocation

Note

JSON is now available in IP Locator V4. Please see JSON Protocol for more information.

SOAP and XML are no longer available in IP Locator V4. Please see REST Transition and SOAP and XML Transition for more information.

REST Transition

The REST Request for IP Locator V4 will be the same, except for the Service Endpoints. Here is a comparison for the REST Request and the highlighted difference:

IP Locator V2

https://iplocator.melissadata.net/v2/rest/service.svc/doIPLocation?id=XXXXXXXX&t=Global_IP_REST_Test&ip=216.231.3.166

IP Locator V4

https://globalip.melissadata.net/v4/web/iplocation/doiplocation?id=XXXXXXXX&t=Global_IP_REST_Test&ip=216.231.3.166

The Response however, for a REST Request is now returned as JSON and not XML. Please see section JSON Protocol to understand the structure of the JSON Response.

The reference guide and sample code in the wiki pages also show how to correctly make a REST request and parse the JSON Response: IP Locator Wiki page.

SOAP and XML Transition

The SOAP and XML Protocols in Global IP V4 Web Service have been deprecated and are currently not available at this time. This is a design decision made in order to accommodate JSON, which is a relatively newer technology and has grown in popularity.

JSON offers a more flexible Web Service response structure, and supports a dynamic structure in the response. This allows for a more optimal response with less overhead. It also allows for the addition of new output elements without having to re-consume the web service, which is typically an issue when bound by a statically defined structure or WSDL.

JSON Protocol

Previously, the request and responses were handled in an XML format. The new Global IP V4 Web Service is handled in JSON. The JSON Protocol provides an intuitive and simple way to define the requests and responses.

Below is an example JSON Request:

{
    “CustomerID”:  “[CUSTOMERID]”,
    “TransmissionReference”:  “JSONCSSampleCode”,
    “Options”:  “”,
    “Records”: [
        {
            “RecordID”:  “1”,
            “IPAddress”:  “216.231.3.184”
        }
    ]
}

It is clear to see where each of the fields is defined, labeled with clear variable names. In Global IP requests, it is necessary to define a CustomerID, a Transmission Reference, and then each record in the request. Each record consists of a Record ID and an IP Address, just as before. Closing tags for each field are unnecessary in the JSON protocol.

Below is an example JSON response:

{
    "Version":  "4.0.0.24",
    "TransmissionReference":  "JSONCSSampleCode",
    "TransmissionResults":  "",
    "Records":  [
        {
            "RecordID":  "1",
            "IPAddress":  "216.231.3.184",
            "Latitude":  "33.6512",
            "Longitude":  "-117.5940",
            "PostalCode":  "92688",
            "Region":  "California",
            "ISPName":  "Cox Communications Inc.",
            "DomainName":  "melissadata.com",
            "City":  "Rancho Santa Margarita",
            "CountryName":  "United States",
            "CountryAbbreviation":  "US",
            "ConnectionSpeed":  "broadband",
            "ConnectionType":  "wired",
            "UTC":  "-08:00",
            "Continent":  "North America",
            "Result":  "IS01"
        }
    ]
}

Similar to the request, the response is formatted in the same way with each variable clearly and intuitively labeled in the JSON Response. All previous data points in the IP Locator V2 Web Service are accessible in V4. The following additional information are also included which were not available in the previous previous version: Connection Speed, Connection Type, UTC, and Continent.

Sample JSON Implementation as well as the reference guide can be seen here: IP Locator.

Interpreting Results

The complete list of result codes for IP Locator V4 Web Service can be found here: IP Locator Result Codes

The result codes for V2 and V4 are identical.

Just like V2, if a match is found in the database, an “IS01” will be returned. If a correctly formed IP address is entered, but it is not found in the database, the result code “IS02” will be returned and no information on the IP address can be provided. In addition, if the IP address is empty or malformed, the result code “IE01” will be returned and no information regarding the input can be provided.