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"If you act like you know what you're doing, you can do anything you want -- except neurosurgery."
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--
John Lowenstein
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See where your website visitors are from with WorldMaps. WorldMaps (currently in
Beta) is an IP address to geographic mapping service designed to give website owners
the ability to visually see where their visitors are coming from (red dots represent
the top 5%, i.e., the most active visitors). These images can be displayed publically
on the home page, or on a private page for administrators. A typical map may look
like the following:
It's also possible to get a transparency-enabled map that excludes the colored "relief
map" (such as in the above image), producing a map like the one below. Because it's
transparent, the background color can be changed in supported browsers. (See your
account page for more info on this feature.)
Images are available in a number of sizes, from thumbnails to large maps:
This beta service is free and can be integrated into any site easily. To begin,
visit my registration page and register a new
account. Once you have an account, use the MyWorldMap
Account page to access your information.
Once your account is set up, all you need to do is place one of two images on your
site. WorldMaps works by receiving page hits from users, keeping a running total
of the number of requests from that user. As a website owner, you have a choice
of using either the image map (such as the one above), or using an invisible "tracking
pixel" that the end user will not see, or a combination of the two. Most users will
opt to simply put the WorldMap on their home page.
Overall, the results are very accurate, in the 94% range on average. Some results
are inevitably not accurate, mainly due to the use of far-away proxy servers. However,
as a whole, most are accurate to the city level. According to my survey results
(based on this page), 90% of the respondents
have found the site to be pinpoint accurate. About 3% responded that the map was
not accurate, and of that 3%, all but 1 were at least accurate to the country level.
Registration is required to protect access to the data. As reporting or other features
are added, linking access to a site's data to an account is the best way to control
access. E-mail addresses are never sold, and used only to notify users of service
changes.
Depending on usage and scalability of this project, a large number of possibilities
exist. Custom map sizes, coloring, and filtering are all possiblities that may be
explored in the future. If you have feature suggestions, please visit
my contact page and leave your feedback.
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