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About geographic filters

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Use geographic filters to direct traffic based on geographic targets. Geotargeting filters help you create a prioritized list of answers that help clients reach their endpoints quickly without removing any option.

The following geographic filters are available in Filter Chain:

Filter Description
Geotarget Regional This filter sorts answers by distance of the source IP address to the requested endpoint using the georegion metadata field and the geoIP database.

You don’t need to assign individual answers for every region. If a requester is in a region without a regional answer, they are given the closest existing regional answer. For example, assume that you have two answers: One that assigns the US-EAST metadata value and one that assigns the ASIAPAC metadata value. If a requester is in US-CENTRAL, they receive the US-EAST answer.

You can use this filter with another one like Select First N to send the user to the closest answer. If you have multiple answers in the same location, consider using Shuffle to randomly pick one of the closest answers.
Geotarget Country This filter sorts answers by distance of the source IP address to the requested endpoint based on the country, subdivision, US state, or Canadian province. NS1 compares the most granular location in the answer metadata fields to a geoIP database to determine the location of the requester based on one of the following:
  • Source IP of the request if EDNS Client Subnet (ECS) is supported and activated by the recursive resolver, or
  • Source IP of the recursive resolver if ECS is not enabled.

Individual answers for every country, subdivision, state, and province aren’t required. If a requester is in a location for which there is no answer with matching metadata, they are given the closest existing answer based on geographical distance. For example, assume you have two answers: One with JP, HK (Japan and Hong Kong) and another with US, CA (United States and Canada). A user in Taiwan is directed to the JP, HK endpoint since Taiwan is closer to Hong Kong.

You can use this filter with another one like Select First N to send the user to the closest answer. If you have multiple answers in the same location, consider using Shuffle to randomly pick one of the closest answers.
Geotarget Latlong This filter sorts answers by distance to the requester IP address, using latitude and longitude coordinates.

This filter examines the latitude and longitude metadata fields to get the location of your answers. Then, NS1 uses the geoIP database to determine the location of the requester to determine which answer is closest.

You can use this filter with another one like Select First N to send the user to the closest answer. If you have multiple answers in the same location, consider using Shuffle to randomly pick one of the closest answers.

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