Geolocation services specialist Quova has upgraded its GeoDirectory Server product which is designed to enable an even more granular location of visitors to firms' web sites.

GeoDirectory Server 6.0 is a Java-based app which can identify the type of internet connection a visitor has and then use the most appropriate way of locating the device, including IP geolocation, GPS, and wi-fi triangulation, according to the firm's chief executive Marie Alexander.

This information can be used by firms in fraud prevention or tailoring web content to specific locations, for example, she added.

"Our first generation product was about IP geolocation, but research showed we needed to understand about more characteristics – whether the visitor was coming from dial-up, a T1 line etc," she explained. "This gives you more information about whether the person is in the same location as the IP address, so it's more about IP intelligence than geolocation."

Alongside the new GeoDirectory Server, Quova launched its Proxy Locator, an extension to the platform which can detect if a web site visitor is coming to a site via a proxy server and therefore trying to hide their true location. This could help firms particularly in preventing fraud, said Alexander