How do you locate the exact physical location using IP address?

Answer 1

Identifying the physical location of an unknown system with "x.y.z" IP address is very challenging, mostly because 1) IP addresses can be so portable and 2) networks can be so far apart. For instance, a corporation may have a very wide-ranging private network, made up entirely of public IP addresses, but the entrance to that network is in, say, New York City. A tracert may show you that the route to the "x.y.z" IP address is through NYC, but the the host is in, say, Denver. Unless the end host registers with an a public physical location database (something like: "Here I am! I'm a.b.c, and I'm at 123 State Street in Chicago, IL"), you can sometimes get information about the network from internet Numbering registrars: ARIN (American Registry for Internet Numbers), APNIC (Asia-Pacific) or RIPE (Registry *mumble* *Internet* *mumble* Europe). Visual Trace from McAfee was one tool that attempted to do provide a centralized physical location database. Certain network blocks are assigned to countries, and service provider routers can sometime reveal their location in their DNS name. ARIN, RIPE and APNIC can give information on these. Unless the remote system gives some clues as to their where-abouts, guessing is typically the best you can do.