{"id":2557,"date":"2022-01-26T12:12:50","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T12:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gatlabs.com\/knowledge\/?post_type=docs&#038;p=2557"},"modified":"2025-07-14T13:53:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T12:53:37","password":"","slug":"how-does-geolocation-in-gat-shield-work","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/gatlabs.com\/knowledge\/tech-tips\/how-does-geolocation-in-gat-shield-work\/","title":{"rendered":"How does Geolocation in GAT Shield Work?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<h2>How does Geolocation in GAT Shield Work?<\/h2>\n<p>Our first go-to place to get the information is from the browser.<\/p>\n<p>The location is given to the browser by Google, which utilises a variety of methods to determine the location. These methods are based on the WiFi hotspots the device sees.<\/p>\n<p>Google learns this either from mobile devices that have geolocation enabled and are seeing WiFi hotspots or through the Google mapping cars that drive around, picking up WiFi hotspots and matching them to GPS data in the car.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-14003\" src=\"https:\/\/gatlabs.com\/knowledge\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2025-07-14-15_52_09-Shield.png\" alt=\"user Geo report - shows the location of all domain users (who have the Shield extensions) using different methods to gather the location and shows it on the map\" width=\"1913\" height=\"755\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gatlabs.com\/knowledge\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2025-07-14-15_52_09-Shield.png 1913w, https:\/\/gatlabs.com\/knowledge\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2025-07-14-15_52_09-Shield-300x118.png 300w, https:\/\/gatlabs.com\/knowledge\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2025-07-14-15_52_09-Shield-1024x404.png 1024w, https:\/\/gatlabs.com\/knowledge\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2025-07-14-15_52_09-Shield-768x303.png 768w, https:\/\/gatlabs.com\/knowledge\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2025-07-14-15_52_09-Shield-1536x606.png 1536w, https:\/\/gatlabs.com\/knowledge\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2025-07-14-15_52_09-Shield-360x142.png 360w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1913px) 100vw, 1913px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>Sometimes, Google is unable to provide geolocation data to the browser. When that happens, we rely on using IP addresses and tapping databases provided by ISPs.<\/div>\n<div>This information is often less accurate and downright incorrect depending on the ISP and their motive for publishing that data; however, in the absence of other data, it is the best that can be obtained (and in most cases, it is pretty OK).<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How does Geolocation in GAT Shield Work? Our first go-to place to get the information is from the browser. The location is given to the browser by Google, which utilises a variety of methods to determine the location. These methods are based on the WiFi hotspots the device sees. Google learns this either from mobile [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"doc_category":[17],"glossaries":[],"doc_tag":[26],"class_list":["post-2557","docs","type-docs","status-publish","hentry","doc_category-getting-started","doc_tag-gat-shield"],"year_month":"2026-04","word_count":156,"total_views":"1714","reactions":{"happy":"0","normal":"0","sad":"0"},"author_info":{"name":"Enrique Gomez","author_nicename":"egomez","author_url":"https:\/\/gatlabs.com\/knowledge\/author\/egomez\/"},"doc_category_info":[{"term_name":"Getting Started","term_url":"https:\/\/gatlabs.com\/knowledge\/tech-tips-category\/getting-started\/"}],"doc_tag_info":[{"term_name":"GAT Shield","term_url":"https:\/\/gatlabs.com\/knowledge\/tech-tips-tag\/gat-shield\/"}],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How does Geolocation in GAT Shield Work? - GAT Knowledge Base<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Our first go-to place to get the information is from the browser. The location is given to the browser by Google, which utilises a variety of methods to determine the location. These methods are based on the WiFi hot-points the device sees.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gatlabs.com\/knowledge\/tech-tips\/how-does-geolocation-in-gat-shield-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How does Geolocation in GAT Shield Work?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our first go-to place to get the information is from the browser. The location is given to the browser by Google, which utilises a variety of methods to determine the location. These methods are based on the WiFi hot-points the device sees.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gatlabs.com\/knowledge\/tech-tips\/how-does-geolocation-in-gat-shield-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GAT Knowledge Base\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-14T12:53:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gatlabs.com\/knowledge\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2025-07-14-15_52_09-Shield.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1913\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"755\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gatlabs.com\\\/knowledge\\\/tech-tips\\\/how-does-geolocation-in-gat-shield-work\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gatlabs.com\\\/knowledge\\\/tech-tips\\\/how-does-geolocation-in-gat-shield-work\\\/\",\"name\":\"How does Geolocation in GAT Shield Work? - GAT Knowledge Base\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gatlabs.com\\\/knowledge\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gatlabs.com\\\/knowledge\\\/tech-tips\\\/how-does-geolocation-in-gat-shield-work\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gatlabs.com\\\/knowledge\\\/tech-tips\\\/how-does-geolocation-in-gat-shield-work\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gatlabs.com\\\/knowledge\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/01\\\/2025-07-14-15_52_09-Shield.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-26T12:12:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-14T12:53:37+00:00\",\"description\":\"Our first go-to place to get the information is from the browser. 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