Location, location, location.
Depending on where in the world you’re standing – or sitting, or whatever position you’re in when you access www.aapg.org – your view of the AAPG website is different.
Your AAPG Web team has tapped into GeoIP technology and added a banner to the AAPG home page that will display a specific AAPG Region link to your computer.
If you’re in the United States, nothing will change for your AAPG home page. But if you’re in, say, India, you’ll see a banner across the top of the home page that is focused on the Asia-Pacific region.
Simultaneously, members in, say, Italy see one that provides Europe region information, while in Brazil they are looking at one focused on Latin America.
Wherever you are in the world – Africa, Canada, the Middle East, etc. – your computer will have a banner linking your computer to that Region.
This feature allows for more obvious navigation to the Region areas on the site and gives a more prominent, local focus to member activities over the globe.
How is this possible?
This is based on your computer’s address that is given to it by the Internet Service Provider (ISP) hosting the services you are using.
So if you are a world traveler and started your day in London, England, but that evening was spent in New York City, the AAPG website you saw that morning will look different from what you see that evening.
It’s pretty simple really. Just think of your telephone.
The telephone number consists of country codes and area codes and local exchanges. Similarly, the IP addresses are organized into sets within countries and geographic areas.
But here’s where the technology changes. Telephones didn’t usually travel, so the number was as stationary as the house address. Now, even though the phone travels, the number affiliated with that phones does not change.
When you are accessing the Internet, whatever device you are using is assigned an IP address managed through the local ISP. These are really long numbers (up to 12 digits) that reflect the geographic location of the ISP through which you are obtaining your services.
When you travel and use Internet services provided within that area, the IP reflects your location. These ISPs are very cooperative. They negotiate connections and verification in order to pass through e-mails and other data, using all kinds of different protocols.
Tapping into that organization is how AAPG now serves up this new area-specific version.
So wherever you are …
Good browsing!