The Meaning of GeoID Visitor Location Tool
GeoID is a small line of code that webmasters or site owners can place on their websites or blogs. Why GeoID? If you break down the name into two parts you have the following:
Geo and ID,
basically meaning Geographical Identification. There you have the reason for its name. We also need to set the record straight here about this name. We went through several names all of them taken for different applications. We also realised there was several other tools similar to the one we developed. We settled on GeoID Though according to Wikipedia this name is used to describe an equipotential surface which (approximately) coincides with the mean ocean surface. It is often referred to as a close representation or physical model of the figure of the Earth. (Source: Wikipedia Geoid). We found the name appropriate for our little tool and it stuck.
How do we differ from other similar tools? Besides changing the design of the icons on the Google map to make them a little friendlier we added numeric markers which explains the numbers that pop-up on the red icons. These markers represent where in the world the visitors ISP is located. The numbers are in six hour blocks telling a visitor how long since a visit from a particular person:
0 = Current visitor
6 = Six hours since visit
and so on....
GeoID is meant to be a fun tool and it gives visitors to a website a talking point and provides the site owner with a visual reading (sort of like a stats record) of how many people are on a site at any given time. Clicking on the little red tab brings a visitor to the Search and Go GeoID page where a Google map opens with the address of the web page that the visitor came from. For example to see visitors to this website - click on the red tab at the bottom of this page.
GeoID does not invade users’ privacy and it won't give out names or addresses, it will give the location of the visitors ISP, country, and street (in some cases) Latitude and Longitude, date and time. It's a neat tool and we have Google to thank for the use of their API to make this possible.
To give support to the developers you can follow them on their Facebook page and Twitter page here:
NOTE: Unfortunately due to some firewalls not all visitors can be viewed. We believe AOL users and some bespoke Firewall users may have a problem in viewing GeoID correctly. If this is the case a slight configuration of your firewall may be called for.
Instructions for applying the GeoID logo on an external website or weblog (blog).
GeoID is applied by placing a line of code onto your website or blog. It can be used in the sidebar or post of most blogging systems such as Wordpress, Typepad and most weblog systems etc. It can be placed anywhere on a website, naturally the more pages it is on, the more accurate the reading.
The line of code that is inserted onto the site is the following and will produce buttons and icons like this:
Classic Red
<a href="http://www.searchandgo.com/geo/"><img src="http://www.searchandgo.com/geo/img.php" alt="GeoID" /></a>
The Beach
<a href="http://www.searchandgo.com/geo/"><img src="http://www.searchandgo.com/geo/beach.php" alt=" GeoID Visitor locations" /></a>
Eco-Green
<a href="http://www.searchandgo.com/geo/"><img src="http://www.searchandgo.com/geo/ecogreen.php" alt="Visitor locations" /></a>
Factory
<a href="http://www.searchandgo.com/geo/"><img src="http://www.searchandgo.com/geo/factory.php" alt="Visitor locations" /></a>
Rain Forest
<a href="http://www.searchandgo.com/geo/"><img src="http://www.searchandgo.com/geo/rainforest.php" alt="GeoID Visitor locations" /></a>
We will also be updating the IP address base to ensure more accurate readings and as Google continue to develop on their mapping then GeoID will become more accurate over time.
How To use GeoID
When you click a red marker, a small box will pop-up that produces data telling a visitor country, time, date etc. While the small box is open use the zoom function to enhance the map and it will take you (in some cases) to street level of the Google map. Click on hybrid tab for a satellite view of the map. While the map is open click on the Google icon on the bottom left-hand side and a Google maps page will open with a larger view of the map. It is also possible to click on the map and drag the map around to an area you are happy with.