[chatmasta]

Google likely has the most accurate "IP Address <-> Location" map of any company. They have all the data necessary for a true "god mode" view of the internet map. Consider the data they have:

- Google maps cars collecting wifi ssid's

- Android phones collecting wifi ssid's

- Chromecast scanning internal networks

They know the names of the networks behind public IP's, they know where the networks are, and they know who connects to them.

Sometimes I wonder if IPv6 will ever be truly adopted, or if big companies have mined so much IPv4 data that they have little incentive to switch all systems to IPv6. Not everyone has the level of access and insight to IPv4 networks that big companies do. When every device has a unique IP, big companies will lose a competitive advantage.

[sapski]

They are also willing to share their knowledge: you can do 100 requests per day for free to https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/business/ge..., or pay up to have basically unlimited access (that's for wifi routers and gsm towers, they work much better than IP addresses for the reasons you mentioned).