The IP to Country Database

Obviously you dont know about iso 3166-2, aka country subdivision codes.
A search on google should tell you more but this post that I made might explain a bit (towards the bottom) http://ip-to-country.directi.com/node/view/27

That's right, I did not make clear that my post refers to ISO-3166-1.
But, as ISO-3166-2 contains more than 3500 entries, I still think this should be kept out of the main database.

Matt

Whatever - why do you think that iso 3166-2 code elements should be kept out of the main database? - it is not clear what you mean.

Adding 3166-2-elements would increase the size of the database rapidly. Not because of the one column more you need to store this information but because of the rows you have to split into multiple rows so you can offer this information. I don't think this information is important enough to blow the database!

Second the database becomes more inaccurate because the information about country subdivision changes more often.

So what's the advantage of an inaccurate, huge database?

Matt

I think I have a better understanding now of where you are coming from:
*being sensational does not justify an argument*

Adding 3166-2-elements would increase the size of the database rapidly. Not sure what you mean by that statement. rapidly = quickly, swiftly. I think you mean 'Adding 3166-2-elements would increase the size of the database'. Now that would be obvious. Adding more data will always increase the size. I need to get a point over here from my viewpoint: this database is not in any way large. It is a matter of opinion of what is a large database 10s, 100s of MBs,, GBs...? All relative really, more of a question of manageability. Ask a DBA.

I don't think this information is important enough to blow the database! Does that mean that if it was important enough to you it would not 'blow the database'? 'Blowing a database away' btw means clearing the database, deleting it etc. How could this possibly happen?

Second the database becomes more inaccurate because the information about country subdivision changes more often.This as far as I am concerned is a moot point. Can you back this statement up? I think you will find that blocks are assigned from unallocated blocks. Unallocated blocks that would not ultimately have had associated location information. Reassignment does happen I know. I dont know for sure how often but I would not expect very much. On a relative global scale? maybe. If you have ever managed any ip networks you would understand that reassigning blocks, or even changing to a different network number, is highly undesirable and best left alone.

So what's the advantage of an inaccurate, huge database? This presupposes that I agree with you, which I dont, regardless of your definition of 'huge'.

Anyhow, this is going nowhere. We disagree, and thats ok.

Anyhow, this is going nowhere. We disagree, and thats ok.

That's the point and we should leave it with this.

Just want to make clear what I meant with 'blowing the database' (english is not my native language as you might have figured out already, so be patient with me). The rest is ok, that's what I intended to say. With 'blowing the database' I just wanted to express that the size increases very fast. The meaning is different, now I know.

Matt

BTW: This page looks quite funny with Safari...

Most allocation information is country specific, and the information tends to become less accurate as you get more specific.

This is part of the reason I like the internet... here I can be "anonymous". My identity is based on these words that I type and the personality that you construct from these words and the label "sandeep" that i have chosen for myself.

The point I'm trying to make is that we have to draw the line somewhere between the technology (in terms of accuracy of information) and the social context.

The city specific information is coming... but its not going to be as accurate as the country specific information. Our job is to put out the information, all of it, with a disclaimer no doubt and in the end, the choice is yours. You tell us how you want it, or better still, you can help us give you what you want and we would be more than glad to provide.

---
Hey matthias, can you send me a screenshot of how it looks in Safari to sandeep.s[at]directi.com?
I guess Safari is based on Konqueror, so i checked it in Konqueror and it seemed ok to me. Where i come from, Mac's are a rare species... so I cant see it for myself :(

well from my point of view it could be very interesting to seperate the USA states into seperate values. I don't see an advantage here globally for seperate Bundeslander in Germany, but the USA are so much bigger, has many many people living there. Even so that states have more population than many of the european countries.

To me, it makes sense just to seperate the USA and leave the others as they are (I'm not from the USA if you would think so).
No extra column would be needed too, just seperate some rows, set them to the USA country flag and with name "USA / New York" for instance. And finished we are :)