Why is the viewer location wrong or in another country?
Standard viewer location comes from the network address, which VPNs, company networks and mobile carriers often place far from the viewer.
Short answer
By default, Mindstamp estimates location from the viewer’s network address. That address often belongs to a VPN, a company network or a mobile carrier in another city or country, so the location is only approximate. For an exact location, turn on Collect precise viewer location and ask viewers for permission.
Why the network address can point elsewhere
- A VPN or privacy relay sends traffic through a server that can be in another country.
- Company and school networks often send all traffic through one office or data center.
- Mobile carriers route traffic through regional hubs that can be hundreds of miles away.
- Cloud and hosting regions, such as northern Virginia in the United States, carry a large share of traffic, so many addresses resolve there.
- Location databases are updated from time to time and can be out of date for a new address range.
How Mindstamp sets the location
Each view gets a city, region and country from its network address when the session starts. If the address has no match, Mindstamp tries a second location service after the view is finished. Neither method uses GPS or asks the viewer.
What to do
- Read location as a country or region trend, not a fact about one person.
- To get an exact location, open the video Settings > Advanced and turn on Collect precise viewer location. See collect precise viewer location.
- If the location matters for a workflow, ask the viewer directly with a question or a lead capture field.
Go further
Support
Still need an answer?
Send the video link and what you see, and the Mindstamp team will help.