One of the important information in network analysis is the geolocation of network points data.

There is no generally available, one coherent database covering very precise data.

The problem is well known by engineers and researchers.

http://www.eng.tau.ac.il/~shavitt/pub/JSAC2011-Geolocation.pdf
https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/107073/1/p53-v41n2h2-uhligA.pdf

There are of course some (not perfect) solutions but often the error is big.

I will probably implement a mechanism enabling the platform user to provide location information for a given client.

This is a longer planning period.

Also remember that providing such information is only optional.
This will definitely not be a requirement.

If you have questions or concerns, I encourage everyone to discuss.

Below I send inputs that will probably be added to the form:

Continent: [input - list]
Country: [input - list]
City: [input - text]
Postal Code: [input - text]
Latitude: [input - double]
Longitude: [input - double]

Connection Type: [input - list below]

	Hardwired broadband access:
		Dial-up access
		Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)
		Digital subscriber line (DSL, ADSL, SDSL, and VDSL)
		DSL Rings
		Fiber Optics (Fiber-to-the-x (FTTx))
		Power-line Internet
		ATM and Frame Relay
	Wireless broadband access
		Satellite broadband
		Mobile broadband
			2G
			3G
			4G
			5G
		WiFi Class

Theoretical bandwidth (upload) [kbps]: [input - double]
Theoretical bandwidth (download) [kbps]: [input - double]

Of course, according to the information, all fields will be optional.

Any other idea?

In the case of cloud servers, where you only know the general region where the server is located, what information do you want?

I would suggest, rather than the information you're asking, which seems appropriate if the BOINC host is in my residence or in my office, that you ask for alternative information for cloud hosts:

* Cloud provider
* Region

Usually, exact location and connection data won't be known, although one can reasonably assume that most of the time the connection is going to be some kind of high speed wired connection.

Likewise, you may want different data for mobile devices such as laptops or phones that aren't always connecting from the same location.

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One more detail, but this is actually rather important:

The information you collect about each host should be "versioned". This isn't normally how BOINC stores host data; each host has one row in the host table.

For this location/connection data, I recommend that it include a timestamp and that each host have multiple rows in this table, each with a different timestamp.

Both location and connection data can change over time, especially for portable devices. But even home desktop computers can get their Internet connection upgraded, and people move to new homes. If you're trying to correlate the information gathered by the app with this location/connection data I imagine you'll need to deal with the problem of the location/connection data changing.

In the case of someone using a laptop both at home and at work, you're going to need to get smart about how you handle the data. You can't expect the user to enter new data every time the laptop moves, and even if they did, you would need to somehow de-duplicate the locatation/connection data.

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Want to find one of the largest known primes? Try PrimeGrid. Or help cure disease at WCG.

Michael - thanks for the message ;)

Many thanks for hints regarding cloud resources, the problem of computer mobility.

Data must be versioned.
There are a lot other problems here.

In the case of VPS hosting / dedicated servers, the location of the data center is sometimes known. This type of example is OVH - sometimes the more accurate location of a data center can be known.

Probably here you can think about some additional solutions.

I would also recommend gathering some form of "accuracy" or precision info.
Not everyone would want to tightly geolocate there home addresss, but there is still some value in having some data from them.
This is one of the problems with some of the IP geolocation services such as maxmind - they claim precision data but it is anything but.
And they aren't interested in fixing it, as their marketing fixates on accuracy.

Yes, I think that the idea of implementing the possibility of adding "geolocation precision" parameters may not be bad ;)

I have a request.

Can you send me information (lists) of what hosting services you use? (for example OVH?)

This will be very useful for me when adding "predefined locations".