Enrich PostHog analytics with IP location data

This transformation enriches PostHog events and persons with IP location data. Simply enable this transformation and from that point on, your new events will have GeoIP data added, allowing you to locate users and run queries based on geographic data.

How it works

This transformation prefers to use event property $ip (which should be of type string), but if that is not provided, it uses the IP address of the client that sent the event.

This way the transformation can, in most cases, infer the IP address without any work on your side.

Requirements

Using this requires either PostHog Cloud with the data pipelines add-on, or a self-hosted PostHog instance running a recent version of the Docker image.

Installation

1. Log in to your PostHog instance
2. Click "Data pipeline" in the left sidebar
3. Search for 'GeoIP'
4. Select the GeoIP transformation, press 'Install' and follow the on-screen instructions

Adding properties

The following properties can be added to the event if its IP address can be matched to a GeoLite2 City location:

$geoip_city_name?: string
$geoip_country_name?: string
$geoip_country_code?: string
$geoip_continent_name?: string
$geoip_continent_code?: string
$geoip_latitude?: number
$geoip_longitude?: number
$geoip_time_zone?: string
$geoip_subdivision_1_code?: string
$geoip_subdivision_1_name?: string
$geoip_subdivision_2_code?: string
$geoip_subdivision_2_name?: string
$geoip_subdivision_3_code?: string
$geoip_subdivision_3_name?: string

They are also set on the associated person same as above, plus setonce in `$initial_geoip...` form, to record where the user was when they were first seen.

How do I skip events without applying GeoIP enrichment?

A case to be aware of is sending events from a server – such events, if not provided with custom property $ip, will be detected as sent from the location of the data center, instead of the related user.

If you'd like this transformation to skip over an event and not add the above properties, set property $geoip_disable to true on that event.

FAQ

How can I still get some geo data, but with less precision?

We use the Maxmind GeoIP2 City database, in which latitude and longitude are set to the detected city's geographical center. The data is not more precise than the city name field.

If having city precision is too much, then you can use the property filter transformation. The GeoIP transformation adds event and person properties ($set and $set_once), so you'll want to filter those out as well. For example, if you are trying to filter $geoip_latitude, make sure to include $geoip_latitude for the event property as well as$set.$geoip_latitude and $set_once.$geoip_latitude for the person properties to the property filter configuration.

Is the source code for this transformation available?

PostHog is open-source and so are all transformations on the platform. The source code for the GeoIP Enricher is available on GitHub.

Who created this transformation?

We'd like to thank PostHog team members Yakko Majuri, Tim Glaser, Michael Matloka and former team member Paolo D'Amico for creating the GeoIP Enricher. We miss you, Paolo!

Who maintains this?

This is maintained by PostHog. If you have issues with it not functioning as intended, please let us know!

What if I have feedback on this destination?

We love feature requests and feedback. Please tell us what you think.

What if my question isn't answered above?

We love answering questions. Ask us anything via our community forum.