RLGBG: A Reachable Landmark Grouping Based IP Geolocation Method for Unreachable Target

IP geolocation technology can estimate or determine the geographical location of terminal device through IP address, which is an important basis for location-based network services. The existing IP geolocation methods based on network measurement cannot accurately obtain the network environment when the target does not respond to the detection message, so it is difficult to achieve high-precision geolocation. To solve this problem, a reachable landmark grouping based IP geolocation method for unreachable target (RLGBG) is proposed in this manuscript. RLGBG first detects landmark data extensively, filters, evaluates and retains reliable and accessible landmarks. Secondly, RLGBG counts the topological relationship and geographical distribution among the reachable landmarks, groups the landmarks according to the common router, and divides the landmarks into different groups after checking by geographical location. Then, the continuous IP segments are divided into IP blocks according to landmark groups, and the location range of each IP block is calculated by the landmarks within each group. Finally, RLGBG counts the IP blocks containing the target, merges those IP blocks that are geographically coincident and topologically related, and estimates the target’s location by calculating the landmark center within the IP blocks. The geolocation experiments based on four cities in China show that RLGBG can effectively estimate the location of unreachable IP targets, and its accuracy and coverage are higher than the existing typical method and IP location databases.