after months of being beseiged by angry, pitchfork and torch armed mobs, nigel's finally updated the InetAddressLocator.jar ;-) besides the updated IP database, we've included a remote classpath version of the CFC that uses spike's method in cases where you can't put the JAR in a classpath.

you can see the CFC in action (and pick up a copy) here or grab it from sourceforge.

quova, inc. has announced that it has secured a US patent related to geoLocation. in case you don't already know, geoLocation is a technology that determines the geographic location of website visitors basically by doing a db lookup of a visitor's IP (data usually based on WHOIS, etc.).

i'm not a lawyer and don't know how this will play out but it smells like it could spell the end of my freebie geoLocatorCFC and others like it:

• InetAddressLocator (principal version of the geoLocatorCFC is based on this java class)
• ip-to-country (ip/country data)
• rirstats (ip/country data split up into country files)

oh boy.

ben forta's recent blog concerning GPS devices and an article on the internet search engine db site got me to thinking about how few websites bother to geographically locate themselves. in fact, many don't even bother with a simple city, state/province, country text blurb. this is bad practice at so many levels, i don't know whether to whack the webmaster with mike hotek's big rubber mallet or swiftly apply my foot to their backside.

locating your website is important for a number of reasons, chief among them is that you're actually some "place". being at a known physical location gives people a sense of your business being "real" and therefore perhaps trustworthy. beyond the pop psychology, the wireless era we seem to be entering demands a location. somebody firing up their bluetooth GPS/pda device and looking for the nearest microbrewery might be a bit put out if none turned up, even though they might standing right in front of one. all the locational technology in the world is so much snake-oil without good geographic data to feed it. so get yourself located.

how hard is it these days to find out your geographic location? not very, you can use the resources on the geoURL project or the geotags project. failing these, drop me a line with your city, state/province, country and i'll see what i can do (yes, i feel that strongly about this).

as the saying goes: know where you are. be where you're at.