Defining Quality
The best measurement of IP geolocation is the quality of the results it provides in your environment.
Many variables affect your end result. As a customer or prospect, we will work with you to design your implementation to achieve the highest level of certainty in your targeting and containment efforts. Read on to learn more about the key elements that Quova delivers as part of our commitment to delivering a comprehensive approach.
Accuracy
Accuracy numbers are quoted throughout the industry. The numbers can be difficult to interpret and compare. For Quova, accuracy is a percentage representing how often we return a correct answer when our database is queried. Quova has two requirements for our published measurements: They must be audited by an established auditing firm. Our methodologies must be statistically significant and results must be repeatable – regardless of when the test is performed or what data is tested. We annually commission PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to audit our processes and data. This ensures objectivity and provides our customers and partners with a strong statement to provide to their customers supporting the quality of the data and services they are using. See our PWC Audit report or Listen to our Accuracy Podcast.
Coverage
Coverage metrics represent the percentage of assigned and allocated IP addresses for which Quova can provide location information. Quova’s coverage, as audited to three significant figures by PricewaterhouseCoopers, is 99.9% for countries and US states, and 99.8% for states in countries outside the US, where they exist. Coverage is impacted by what data is available, and in some parts of the world data is more difficult to obtain due to challenges with local documentation, language and government restrictions. Your actual coverage will vary depending on your specific application. Quova can work with you to help you interpret the data to provide the highest level of coverage in your production environment.
Confidence Factors
The basic geographic elements of country, state, and city are included in Quova’s data and we assign a Confidence Factor for each of these three values. Confidence Factors are statistical measurements created by our machine learning engine to indicate our confidence that each specific answer is correct. They are generated based on the amount and type of data that has been collected. The higher the number, the more evidence is available to accurately determine the respective country, state, and city. Quova’s Confidence Factors enable vital business decisions to be made objectively by giving insight into individual elements of the data. These are not risk scores. Note that Confidence Factors are unique to Quova and should not be compared between vendors.
Network Characteristics
Network Characteristic fields are critical in combination with Confidence Factors to design your implementation and maximize your coverage. These fields include information about how a user connects to the Internet, whether a proxy is being used, which ISP is providing the connection, and more. For example, in order to block visitors from a certain country, you need to know whether the users are connecting through dial-up or DSL. If they connect through DSL, you know they are close to the IP address. If they connect through dial-up, you can’t be as confident in the user’s location. The manner in which Network Characteristic data is collected and stored by your geolocation provider can have a definite impact on your implementation – both in terms of ease of use and overall results. Unlike other providers, Quova stores all Network Characteristic data in separate fields so they can be evaluated individually. For example, proxy information is not stored in a country code field.
Reference Tables
Reference Tables contain all of the information about the physical world (e.g., place names, ISPs, connection types, etc.) assigned to IP address information. Quova’s Reference Tables are delivered on a weekly basis to our customers to ensure the most up-to-date link between geography and IP addresses. A key Quova differentiator is our Research Team (GeoGeeks). They maintain the reference data by ensuring correct spelling and removal of duplicate locations, tracking all changes in physical geography such as place names and performing quality assurance testing on Reference Tables Service Levels. Quova commits to deliver an updated version of our data to customers on a weekly basis, and recently celebrated our 400th release without any interruption in service.
Feedback Mechanisms
In order to consistently improve our data quality, Quova has implemented feedback mechanisms that continuously enhance the data with new information. Our Closed Loop Methodology aggregates customer log files to identify which IP addresses are most active on our customers’ sites. Our Research Team then prioritizes their research on those parts of the Internet that represent the most traffic on our customers’ Web sites. We currently process just under 20 billion IP addresses each month using this methodology. In addition, our GeoFeedback service enables our customers to submit specific IP addresses to our Research Team for review. Customers can simply report these IP addresses or request that our assessment be returned to them.
Historical Information
Historical information may be required in your analysis or investigative/prosecutorial processes. When needed, Quova can provide the IP address location on dates since 2002. If you are investigating historical activity, knowing where the IP address is currently located will not produce accurate results. The dates of your activity must synchronize with where the IP address was at the time being researched. Evidence data during an investigation, audit, or prosecution, historical evidence of IP address information may be required. A simple location assignment is generally not considered compelling evidence for legal and regulatory purposes. Quova has the capability to provide the historical data we had collected and details supporting why we assigned a particular location at a particular point in time. This data can be used as evidence to support a location assignment, and Quova can even provide testimonial support when necessary.
Error Rate
The error rate measures how often your application makes the wrong decision based on IP geolocation information. Error rates are influenced by your business logic and which data elements are used. Understanding your error rate can be the most practical way to measure the quality of IP geolocation data. The quality of your results will depend on having the right data fields, the right data structures, and solid implementation experience. Quova’s Client Solutions team has many years of experience assisting customers implement business rules and interpret the data – significantly minimizing error rates.
Expertise
A geolocation provider’s commitment to quality can be measured by their level of expertise and their customers’ access to that expertise. Quova has literally hundreds of years of experience in our Research Team. Our Client Solutions team has supported hundreds of direct implementations. Quova brings a depth of knowledge unmatched in the industry that is available and accessible if you need to draw on it.
