Location Signal Types
Verisoul collects and analyzes various types of location data:IP Geolocation
- Country: The country associated with the IP address
- Region/State: The regional subdivision within the country
- City: The city associated with the IP address
- Coordinates: Latitude and longitude
- Postal code: Where available
Country Tracking
Verisoul tracks country information at both the session and account level:- Session country: The country detected for the current session based on IP geolocation
- Account country: The most recent country associated with the user account
- Account countries: A historical record of all countries a user has been seen in
True Country Detection
Verisoul employs advanced techniques to detect a user’s actual location, even when they’re using proxies or VPNs:- true_country_code: Represents our best determination of a user’s actual location
- Available for approximately 10% of proxy/VPN traffic
- Leverages multiple data providers and proprietary ML algorithms
- Helps identify users attempting to mask their true location
- Defaults to the IP address country (session.location.country_code) when no additional signals are found
Location Data in API Response
The Verisoul API provides comprehensive location data in the response:Understanding Location Fields
- session.true_country_code: Our determination of the user’s actual country, even if they’re using a proxy/VPN
- session.location: Detailed location information derived from IP geolocation
- account.country: The most recent country associated with this user account
- account.countries: Array of all distinct countries this user has been seen in across all sessions (include true_country_code)
Note: When no proxy/VPN is detected or when we cannot determine the true location behind a proxy,true_country_code
will default to the same value assession.location.country_code
.
How to use location signals
Location signals provide powerful tools for fraud prevention and regulatory compliance. Here are the most common ways our customers leverage location data:Blocking Risky Geographies
One of the most common rules implemented by companies is blocking access from high-risk geographies or regions they don’t service:- Regulatory Compliance: Block users from countries where your service is not licensed to operate
- Fraud Prevention: Restrict access from countries with historically high fraud rates
- Risk Management: Apply additional verification steps for users from moderate-risk countries
Leveraging True Country Detection
Thetrue_country_code
field is particularly valuable for geographic blocking rules:
- Bypass Prevention: Detect users attempting to bypass geo-restrictions using VPNs or proxies
- Accurate Enforcement: Apply geographic rules based on the user’s actual location, not their apparent IP location
- Compliance Assurance: Ensure regulatory compliance even when users attempt to mask their location
Implementation in Verisoul
Multi-Provider IP Intelligence
Verisoul uses multiple IP intelligence providers to maximize accuracy:- Combines data from several leading IP intelligence services that is updated in real-time
- IP geolocation is one of the few data sources that Verisoul does not derive entirely on its own, due to the massive scale required to cover global IP locations
- Maintains integrations with multiple specialized IP intelligence providers to ensure comprehensive global coverage
- Applies proprietary ML algorithms to determine the most accurate location
- Our ML system selects the most accurate provider for any given IP based on:
- Historical accuracy evaluations by geography
- Real-time signals such as which of our 300+ cloud regions the request was routed to
- Request latencies and network path analysis
- Consistency checks across multiple data sources
- Identifies discrepancies that may indicate location spoofing
- Attempts to detect true location even when proxies/VPNs are in use