Distributed traceroute approach to geographically locating IP devices

We explore the problem of geographically locating IP addresses. Identifying the location of Web content on the Internet has several applications in the field of homeland security. A solution is proposed that uses the traceroute utility as a tool for collecting network information surrounding the target IP address, and the WHOIS database and hostname analysis are used to extract geographical information from the trace information. The approach is first evaluated as a single solution, traced from one computer, then again as a distributed solution, running multiple geographically and network-diverse traceroutes. The distributed approach reveals an increased certainty in the results.