Implements efficient MaxMind GeoIP database queries in Rails. Read more about the techinque at this fantastic article.

Install

Add gem dependency to your Gemfile:

gem 'geoip-rails'

Usage

In your Rails app, Geoip::Location model is available. To get the location information for the user IP-address, call find_by_ip on it:

Geoip::Location.find_by_ip('123.123.123.123')
# => #<Geoip::Location id: 33447, country: "EE", region: "18", city: "Tartu", postal_code: 0, latitude: 58.3661, longitude: 26.7361, metro_code: 0, area_code: 0>

This method also accepts block that will be called when location is found by given ip address:

Geoip::Location.find_by_ip('123.123.123.123') do |location|
  puts "I know that you live in #{location.city}"
end

TODO

See GitHub issues list.

Database schema

CREATE DATABASE geoip;

CREATE TABLE blocks (
  ip_poly      POLYGON       NOT NULL,
  ip_from      INT UNSIGNED  NOT NULL,
  ip_to        INT UNSIGNED  NOT NULL,
  location_id  INT(11)       NOT NULL,
  SPATIAL INDEX (ip_poly)
) ENGINE = MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET = utf8;

CREATE TABLE locations (
  id            INT(10)       UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
  country       CHAR(2)       NOT NULL,
  region        CHAR(2)       NOT NULL,
  city          VARCHAR(50)   NOT NULL,
  postal_code   INT(10)       UNSIGNED DEFAULT NULL,
  latitude      FLOAT         DEFAULT NULL,
  longitude     FLOAT         DEFAULT NULL,
  metro_code    INT(10)       UNSIGNED DEFAULT NULL,
  area_code     INT(10)       UNSIGNED DEFAULT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (id)
) ENGINE = MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET = utf8;

Import database from CSV files

USE geoip;

CREATE TABLE blocks_new (
  ip_poly      POLYGON       NOT NULL,
  ip_from      INT UNSIGNED  NOT NULL,
  ip_to        INT UNSIGNED  NOT NULL,
  location_id  INT(11)       NOT NULL,
  SPATIAL INDEX (ip_poly)
) ENGINE = MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET = utf8;

CREATE TABLE locations_new (
  id INT(10)    UNSIGNED    NOT NULL,
  country       CHAR(2)     NOT NULL,
  region        CHAR(2)     NOT NULL,
  city          VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
  postal_code   INT(10)     UNSIGNED DEFAULT NULL,
  latitude      FLOAT       DEFAULT NULL,
  longitude     FLOAT       DEFAULT NULL,
  metro_code    INT(10)     UNSIGNED DEFAULT NULL,
  area_code     INT(10)     UNSIGNED DEFAULT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (id)
) ENGINE = MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET = utf8;

LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE "/tmp/GeoLiteCity-Blocks.csv"
INTO TABLE blocks_new
FIELDS
  TERMINATED BY ","
  ENCLOSED BY '\"'
IGNORE 2 LINES
(
  @start, @end, @location_id
)
SET
  ip_from       := @start,
  ip_to         := @end,
  ip_poly       := GEOMFROMWKB(POLYGON(LINESTRING(
      POINT(@start, -1),
      POINT(@end,   -1),
      POINT(@end,    1),
      POINT(@start,  1),
      POINT(@start, -1)
    ))),
  location_id := @location_id
;

LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE "/tmp/GeoLiteCity-Location.csv"
INTO TABLE locations_new
FIELDS
  TERMINATED BY ","
  ENCLOSED BY '\"'
IGNORE 2 LINES
(
  @id, @country, @region, @city, @postal_code, @latitude, @longitude, @metro_code, @area_code
)
SET
  id          := @id,
  country     := @country,
  region      := @region,
  city        := @city,
  postal_code := @postal_code,
  latitude    := @latitude,
  longitude   := @longitude,
  metro_code  := @metro_code,
  area_code   := @area_code
;

RENAME TABLE blocks TO blocks_old;
RENAME TABLE locations TO locations_old;
RENAME TABLE blocks_new TO blocks;
RENAME TABLE locations_new TO locations;

DROP TABLE blocks_old;
DROP TABLE locations_old;