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Here is how you can have Google Maps automatically center at the user's location based on their IP Address.
If you do not already have one, sign up for a Google Maps API here.
Next, download the latest free GeoCity Lite Binary data from here: http://www.maxmind.com/app/geolitecity (click the link that says Download the latest GeoLite City Binary Format)
Finally, download the PHP Pure APIs from http://www.maxmind.com/app/php. The files you want to snag are geoipcity.inc and geoipregionvars.php.
Couple of things to mention:
- If you do not care about the user's city and just want their country, you can download geoip.inc instead of geoipcity.inc, and use the GeoLite Free country database available here.
- If you have root access or PECL, or you may want to install mod_geoip or follow those steps because you will get increased performance.
- MaxMind also sells versions of their database that are more accurate, so if accuracy is important you may wish to purchase their paid data.
Now you are ready to set up your code. Create an index.php file that looks like this. Be sure to replace the "key" with the one Google provides you when you sign up (see above if you missed that instruction).
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
<META NAME="Description" CONTENT="A page demonstrating Geo-location with Google Maps">
<META NAME="Keywords" CONTENT="google maps, api, google maps api">
<title>Google Maps Geo-Locator Example!</title>
<script src="http://maps.google.com/maps?file=api&v=2&sensor=false&key=ABQIAAAAsj0ZWmDBcv09dSIHy9y56RRwyM6RYB_XPZWXalK66jIbEjkXExQDgZFcuy2otARLK39E97oWoE6M3A"
type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
<?php
//CENTER MAP BASED ON USER'S GEOIP
include("GeoLiteCity/geoipcity.php");
include("GeoLiteCity/geoipregionvars.php");
// uncomment for Shared Memory support
// geoip_load_shared_mem("/usr/local/share/GeoIP/GeoIPCity.dat");
// $gi = geoip_open("/usr/local/share/GeoIP/GeoIPCity.dat",GEOIP_SHARED_MEMORY);
$gi = geoip_open("GeoLiteCity/GeoLiteCity.dat",GEOIP_STANDARD);
//FOR DEBUGGING PURPOSES, IF THIS IS BEING HOSTED ON A LOCAL MACHINE (127.0.0.1), THEN USE GOOGLE'S IP ADDRESS AS AN EXAMPLE. THIS WILL CENTER THE MAP ON MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA
if (!$_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']=="127.0.0.1") {
$userIP = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
} else {
$userIP = "216.239.51.99";
}
$record = geoip_record_by_addr($gi,$userIP);
$existsZoom = 11; //Zoom level used if IP is found in the GeoIP database
$zoom = 1; //Zoom used if the IP is not found in the GeoIP database
$lat = 20; //Latitude used if the IP is not found in the GeoIP database
$lng = -20; //Longitude used if the IP is not found in the GeoIP database
//SEE IF USER IP EXISTS IN THE GEOIP DATABASE. IF NOT, RETURN DEFAULT LAT/LON COORDINATES
if (!empty($record->latitude)) {
$zoom = $existsZoom;
$lat = $record->latitude;
}
if (!empty($record->longitude)) {
$zoom = $existsZoom;
$lng = $record->longitude;
}
//Print out the code
print " var DefaultUserLat = $lat;\n";
print " var DefaultUserLng = $lng;\n";
print " var DefaultUserZoom = $zoom;\n";
geoip_close($gi);
?>
function initialize()
{
if (GBrowserIsCompatible()) {
var map = new GMap2(document.getElementById("map_canvas"));
map.setCenter(new GLatLng(DefaultUserLat , DefaultUserLng), DefaultUserZoom ); //These are our default user coordinates and default zoom level set in the PHP area.
map.setUIToDefault();
}
}
</script>
</head>
<body onload="initialize()" onunload="GUnload()">
<div id="map_canvas" style="width: 500px; height: 300px"></div>
</body>
</html>
When the page loads, the user should see their city/state on the map based on their IP address.
You can download a zipped example of this to experiment with below. The example includes the MaxMind GeoIPLite database.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| geoip.zip | 24.86 MB |
