Using GeoTrends

This article describes how to install and use GeoTrends. GeoTrends enhances both preconfigured and custom reports with demographic and marketing data by using the client computer's IP address to look up information such as area code, region, country, city, state, and market segmentation information. In pre-defined reports, the main differences when using GeoTrends are reflected in several visitor-related reports, especially those reports under the Geography heading.

For an example of how Webtrends uses GeoTrends data, look at the Countries report in the Visitors > Geography reports folder. This report shows the top countries of the visitors to your site. Without GeoTrends, the report shows only one country category called Unknown Origin. When creating custom reports, GeoTrends dimensions (listed and described in the following section) are always available. However, you need to install GeoTrends to get meaningful information for these dimensions.

What Geographic Information is Available?

Webtrends Analytics includes basic geographic data for country and world geographic regions associated with the client computer's IP address. However, for more detailed reporting, you can purchase licensing options to receive GeoTrends.

GeoTrends Data in Webtrends Analytics Software

GeoTrends provides the following information:

Geography Drilldown
Report format that allows you to drill down to more geographic information about visitors.

Country
The country associated with the client computer's IP address.

City
City associated with the client computer's IP address.

State, Province, Territory
State (of the United States of America), province (of Canada), or territory (of Australia, Brazil, Germany, Great Britain, Japan) associated with the client computer’s IP address. Note that for Japan, you may receive a code that coordinates with a Prefecture. In some cases, such as Australia, GeoTrends provides an abbreviation of the federal state or territory.

Area code
Area code associated with the client computer's IP address. Note that the area code covers only IP addresses in the United States and Puerto Rico.

DMA (Designated Market Area)
A DMA consists of all counties whose largest viewing share is given to stations of that same market area. Non-overlapping DMAs cover the entire continental United States, Hawaii and parts of Alaska. There are currently 210 DMAs throughout the U.S.

MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area)
MSAs are relatively freestanding Metropolitan Areas and are not closely associated with other Metropolitan Areas. These areas typically are surrounded by non-metropolitan counties. A Metropolitan Area (MA) is defined as one of a large population nucleus, together with adjacent communities that have a high degree of economic and social integration with that nucleus. Some MAs are defined around two or more nuclei. Each MA must contain either a place with a minimum population of 50,000 or a Census Bureau-defined urbanized area and a total MA population of at least 100,000 (75,000 in New England).

PMSA (Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area)
If an area that qualifies as a metropolitan area has more than one million people, PMSAs may be defined within it. PMSAs consist of a large urbanized county or cluster of counties that demonstrates very strong internal economic and social links, in addition to close ties to other portions of the larger area.

GeoTrends Data In Visitor Data Mart

Visitor Data Mart uses the following GeoTrends data.

City
The city associated with the client computer's IP address.

Country
The country associated with the client computer's IP address.

State, Province, Territory
The state (of the United States of America), province (of Canada), or territory (of Australia, Brazil, Germany, Great Britain, Japan) associated with the client computer’s IP address. Note that for Japan, you may receive a code that coordinates with a Prefecture. In some cases, such as Australia, GeoTrends provides an abbreviation of the federal state or territory.

DMA (Designated Market Area)
A DMA consists of all counties whose largest viewing share is given to stations of that same market area. Non-overlapping DMAs cover the entire continental United States, Hawaii and parts of Alaska. There are currently 210 DMAs throughout the U.S.

MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area)
MSAs are relatively freestanding Metropolitan Areas and are not closely associated with other Metropolitan Areas. These areas typically are surrounded by non-metropolitan counties. A Metropolitan Area (MA) is defined as one of a large population nucleus, together with adjacent communities that have a high degree of economic and social integration with that nucleus. Some MAs are defined around two or more nuclei. Each MA must contain either a place with a minimum population of 50,000 or a Census Bureau-defined urbanized area and a total MA population of at least 100,000 (75,000 in New England).

PMSA (Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area)
If an area that qualifies as a metropolitan area has more than one million people, PMSAs may be defined within it. PMSAs consist of a large urbanized county or cluster of counties that demonstrates very strong internal economic and social links, in addition to close ties to other portions of the larger area.

Installing GeoTrends

If you use Webtrends Analytics software, GeoTrends is an optional component that can be installed during the Webtrends installation. For information about adding GeoTrends to your implementation, see “Modifying Your Webtrends Analytics Installation” in the Webtrends Analytics Software Implementation and Maintenance Guide.

If your Webtrends installation CD-ROM is not available, you can download the GeoTrends database through Webtrends Administration. In the left pane, click Install Components. Click Accessories and then click the GeoTrends Data link.

If Webtrends is running in a distributed configuration, you can install GeoTrends on the same computer as the system database component, or you can install it on a dedicated computer. If you install GeoTrends on a separate computer, the installation updates the Webtrends database with the location of GeoTrends.

Activating GeoTrends

In order to activate GeoTrends after you install it, you must stop and restart the Webtrends Services to activate your GeoTrends installation.

Determining Whether GeoTrends Is Installed

To confirm that GeoTrends is installed:

1. In the left pane of Webtrends Administration, click Application Settings > System Management Hosts.
2. If GeoTrends is installed, the list of components includes GeoTrends Server.

Getting GeoTrends Software Updates

If you use Webtrends Analytics software, you can check for updated versions of GeoTrends data through Webtrends Administration.

To get updates:

1. In the left pane, click Administration > Install Components.

2. Click Check For New Components.

3. Webtrends looks for updated versions on the Webtrends web site. If a newer version is available, the dialog includes a link to download the new version.

4. Click Update GeoTrends Data.

5. Save the installation program to a computer running Webtrends, and run the installation program from the saved location.

6. GeoTrends software automatically checks daily for a new data file. If an update is found, the GeoTrends software sends the new data to each of the GeoTrends servers you have configured. Otherwise, you can run the geotrendsupdate.exe to send a new GeoTrends data file to the servers immediately. The geotrendsupdate.exe is located in
   Webtrends Installation Directory\common\lib\ on the computer where GeoTrends is installed.