Arkansas (finally) Checks In!

Many of you will recall my recent posting about Google Analytics. It’s a wonderful tool that Google provides for people who like to leaf through maps for hours on end. It serves as such a delightful diversion.

In that post I whined a bit about a lack of traffic from Arkansas. I’d installed Google Analytics a full month earlier without a single page view from anyone there. And I’d recorded hits from every other state in the Union. Then I got a hit from the tiny Northern Mariana Islands. That’s a commonwealth in political union with the United States with only 80,000 people! Yet, nothing from Arkansas.

So finally this morning I found something very exciting. I saw a wonderful development waiting for me in the tool.


Evidence

First Arkansas Visitor - Paragould. Screen print from Google Analytics for howderfamily.com

Google Analytics of course records Internet Protocol addresses of page viewers. It correlates them to specific geographic locations and then plots them on maps based on user-generated preferences. It’s not totally foolproof since IP addresses don’t identify exact geographic locations every single time for every single user. I’ve noticed that my Internet Service Provider assigns me slightly different IP addresses and when I perform a reverse DNS lookup on them they can vary by a number of miles. The address tracks to the ISP and not to me specifically.

Generally it’s pretty close, though. So over time they form a fairly reasonable radius around my actual location. It’s more like a bullseye within a target. Many shots happen, some closer and some further away than others.


Paragould-ish

aragould Sky. Photo by Tyler Sisco; (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Paragould Sky

The visitor record traced to Paragould, Arkansas. However, they may have actually resided just across the border in the Missouri bootheel. But they probably weren’t in Memphis, Tennessee which seems just a little too far away. Either way, they came across on an IP address corresponding to Arkansas and I’m going to take it!

Thank you mystery viewer from Paragould. I hope you enjoyed your visit.


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Comments

3 responses to “Arkansas (finally) Checks In!”

  1. Dan Baxter Avatar
    Dan Baxter

    Arkansas is surrounded by six states, and is north of every one of them.

    Missouri, however, is surrounded by eight states, and is north of every one of them as well!

    1. Jeff Rundell Avatar
      Jeff Rundell

      What part of Missouri is north of any part of Iowa?

      1. Twelve Mile Circle Avatar

        I seem to recall the answer centered on a couple of things:

        • The definition of any vs. all; if it meant a part where some of Missouri was north of some of Iowa, then it could be the portion of Missouri north of the little southeastern Iowa nub (e.g., Keokuk) or at various places along the Sullivan Line due to drift and/or surveying irregularities — which seemed to be where the original comment was coming from.
        • Whether "Missouri" referred to the State or to the River

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