§ 01
Definition
Commercial databases map IP ranges to a country, region and city, plus details such as ISP and whether an address belongs to a data centre or VPN. Streaming services, banks and ad networks all rely on them.
§ 02
How it works
Country-level results are usually right; city-level results are much less reliable, and providers such as MaxMind publish accuracy figures that vary by country. When you connect to a VPN, sites see the VPN server's IP, so the database places you where the server is registered.
§ 03
Why it matters
IP geolocation is what geo-blocking enforces and what a VPN changes. It is also why a VPN server can appear to be in the 'wrong' country: the database, not the provider, decides what location a site displays.