Frequently Asked Questions

Technology

How do you gather your IP Intelligence and geolocation data?

To deliver the most accurate and granular data available, we leverage over 15 data sources and patented techniques; partnerships with many of the largest ISPs, websites and networks; and we utilize partner data that is verified in house to ensure reliability.

Digital Element utilizes patented web-spidering technology and 20+ proprietary methods to triangulate the location, connection speed, and many other characteristics associated with an IP address.

Enhancing this further is our proprietary D3 technology, which refines and expands our truth-set for IP address accuracy on a global scale. Digital Element leverages truth set data from GPS coordinates from mobile devices to validate the location of IP addresses.

Because Digital Element sources data from over 1.5 billion mobile devices in a given thirty-day period, and confirms the location of IP addresses using the lat/long provided by the mobile devices, we are able to provide greater confidence as it relates to the actual IP address location. This also allows us to section the world into useful geographic segments, no matter how small the city or suburb. Digital Element is the only IP geolocation provider that can do this at scale.

This combination of external partnerships and in-house innovations ensures we consistently provide the highest quality IP geolocation and intelligence data.

Digital Element is also able to map over 4 million locations (cities and postal codes) in the world, which is an order of magnitude higher than any other provider in this space. For Digital Element customers, this translates into enhanced accuracy, better insights, and greater performance.

Additional Resources

What kind of targeting parameters or industry-related information do you offer?

Digital Element’s comprehensive set of IP databases provides our customers with valuable information beyond IP geolocation.

We have a portfolio of databases, with two key data sets: NetAcuity and Nodify.

NetAcuity is our core IP geolocation database with various contextual information about an anonymous IP address.

Nodify provides a layer of additional intelligence when an IP address is behind either an anonymizer, VPN, or darknet, or if the IP address is risky or not with various deterministic information about IP address behavior.

With NetAcuity, we offer over 59 targeting parameters, including:

Country	Connection Type	Proxy/VPN identification	Demographics
Region/State	Mobile Carrier	ISP	Industry Codes
City	Latitude & Longitude	Domain	Company Name
ZIP & Postal Codes	Time Zone & Language	ASN	Home & Business
Custom Regions*	Phone Area Code	ZIP+4	Org Name

*USA DMA/MSA, U.K. ITV Regions, France Departments

What kind of coverage do you offer?

Our data covers 99.9999 percent of all routable IP addresses that you will see, meaning that we allow you to target all countries, globally.

Can you target mobile Internet users?

Yes. Generally, Internet traffic can be broken down by connectivity type into: 1) Wired PC-based traffic, 2) WiFi-based mobile-device and PC traffic, and 3) Celltower-based mobile device traffic.

IP geolocation data will enable you to accurately target the first two connectivity types – fixed and Wi-Fi. In terms of traffic from mobile devices specifically, Wi-Fi connections represent well over 80 percent of mobile Internet device traffic in terms of how users are connecting, meaning most mobile device traffic can be accurately targeted using IP geolocation.

How do you deal with proxies and VPNs?

Digital Element maintains the world’s most comprehensive and up-to-date proxy and VPN detection database, empowering websites, financial services companies, networking providers, publishers and many others whose businesses rely on their ability to control the distribution of their online content; detect online fraud; prevent unauthorized access; comply with legal/embargo restrictions; and more.

Our Nodify solution can:

Accurately detect Proxy & VPN connections, including Residential Proxies, and assess their risk using 30+ contextual data points per provider.
Distinguish between legitimate users and bad actors by leveraging unique insights into IP stability and persistence, minimizing false positives.

How is NetAcuity compliant with privacy laws?

The technology is based purely on analyzing network infrastructure and non-personally identifiable IP addresses. Digital Element never monitors individuals’ web behavior; no cookies are ever installed on users’ machines; and no personally identifiable information is ever collected or stored.

What about IPv6?

Digital Element already supports IPv6 and, in fact, when the world migrates to IPv6, our technology will become even more crucial in terms of keeping up with an exponentially expanding set of IP addresses.

Competition

Why not go with a cheap solution? Aren’t they all the same?

The main issue with the data from cheap solution providers is the inconsistency of methodologies and the irregularities in data quality.

With cheaper solutions, current clients discovered that as they got more granular with their targeting, accuracy and coverage decreased, especially for international traffic.

How does Digital Element stack up against other industry providers?

Digital Element is the leader in this space and has been providing IP location data as a tool to increase the reach and relevance of online content, ads and applications since 1999.

We stand heads above other providers in terms of accuracy, coverage, data quality and support, and our client list – which includes the world’s leading brands – can attest to the fact that we are the gold standard in the IP geolocation space.

Deployment

How do we install your solution?

We offer five deployment methods of installation: Server/API, Cloud Service, Parquet File Format, Text File Creator, and Embedded API. There is no price difference between methods—it’s whatever works best for your environment and particular use case.

With all methods, clients can be up and running in as little as 20 minutes.

How often is your IP data updated?

Our NetAcuity Geolocation insights are updated weekly to ensure high accuracy and reliability. For Nodify, which provides critical VPN and proxy detection insights, data is refreshed daily to stay ahead of emerging threats.

Note: NetAcuity Edge is our legacy geolocation database. While we no longer offer it to new customers, we continue to support existing clients still using this product.

What technical support is available?

This is one of Digital Element’s biggest points of differentiation. When you or your clients have questions, our 24/7 support will be there with answers.

Our support team is hands-down the best in the industry, and leverages an entire team of experts in the field of IP Geolocation and Intelligence to make sure that our clients utilize our data to its fullest potential.

Pricing

How much does the solution cost?

Digital Element’s pricing is a flat monthly fee based on two variables: estimated monthly traffic and data sets requested. We price based on these two elements so that we can serve clients of any size — from startups to the world’s largest websites.

Click here to learn more about our pricing.

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