Laravel GeoIP – Determine visitor’s geographic location

Laravel GeoIP is a package that allows you to determine the geographic location of your application’s visitors based on their IP addresses. This can be useful for various purposes, such as personalizing content, analyzing user behavior, or implementing location-based features.

Key Features

IP Geolocation: Easily retrieve geographic information about visitors, including country, city, latitude, and longitude.
Lightweight: Simple installation and easy integration with Laravel applications.
Multiple Providers: Supports multiple geolocation service providers, giving you flexibility in choosing a data source.
Caching Support: Option to cache results for improved performance.

Installation

To install Laravel GeoIP, you can use Composer. Run the following command in your terminal:

bash

composer require "torann/geoip"

1	composer require "torann/geoip"

Configuration

After installing the package, you need to publish the configuration file:

bash

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Torann\GeoIP\GeoIPServiceProvider"

1	php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Torann\GeoIP\GeoIPServiceProvider"

This will create a configuration file named geoip.php in the config directory.

Configuration Options

Open the config/geoip.php file to configure the package. You can select the geolocation service provider and set any necessary options.

For example, to use the default provider (which usually includes a free service), configure the driver option:

php

'driver' => 'ipinfo', // Available drivers: 'ipinfo', 'ipstack', 'geoip', etc.

1	'driver' => 'ipinfo', // Available drivers: 'ipinfo', 'ipstack', 'geoip', etc.

Usage

To use Laravel GeoIP, you can utilize the GeoIP facade in your controllers, middleware, or anywhere in your application.

Example: Getting Visitor Location

Here’s how to get the visitor’s location information:

php

use GeoIP;

public function index()
{
    $location = GeoIP::getLocation();

    return response()->json($location);
}

use GeoIP;

public function index()

{

$location = GeoIP::getLocation();

return response()->json($location);

}

The $location variable will contain data such as:

ip: Visitor’s IP address
country: Visitor’s country
state: Visitor’s state
city: Visitor’s city
latitude: Latitude of the location
longitude: Longitude of the location
timezone: Time zone of the location

Example: Middleware for Localization

You might want to use the visitor’s location for localization. Here’s an example of how you can create middleware that uses the visitor’s location to set the application locale:

Create a middleware:

bash

php artisan make:middleware GeoIPMiddleware

1

php artisan make:middleware GeoIPMiddleware

In the GeoIPMiddleware.php file, use the GeoIP facade to retrieve the location and set the locale:

php

namespace App\Http\Middleware;

use Closure;
use GeoIP;

class GeoIPMiddleware
{
    public function handle($request, Closure $next)
    {
        $location = GeoIP::getLocation();

        // Set the application locale based on the country
        if ($location['country'] === 'FR') {
            app()->setLocale('fr');
        } else {
            app()->setLocale('en');
        }

        return $next($request);
    }
}

namespace App\Http\Middleware;

use Closure;

use GeoIP;

class GeoIPMiddleware

{

public function handle($request, Closure $next)

{

$location = GeoIP::getLocation();

// Set the application locale based on the country

if ($location['country'] === 'FR') {

app()->setLocale('fr');

} else {

app()->setLocale('en');

}

return $next($request);

}

php

protected $middlewareGroups = [
    'web' => [
        // Other middleware...
        \App\Http\Middleware\GeoIPMiddleware::class,
    ],
];

protected $middlewareGroups = [

'web' => [

// Other middleware...

\App\Http\Middleware\GeoIPMiddleware::class,

];

Caching

To improve performance, you can enable caching in the config/geoip.php file:

php

'cache' => [
    'enabled' => true,
    'duration' => 60, // Duration in minutes
],

'cache' => [

'enabled' => true,

'duration' => 60, // Duration in minutes

Conclusion

Laravel GeoIP is a powerful tool for determining your visitors’ geographic locations, enabling you to enhance user experience by personalizing content and features based on location. Its easy integration and support for multiple providers make it a valuable addition to any Laravel application.