We build our data sets on top of publicly available information (whois, BGP, rdns etc), but also combine it with lots of data we collect ourselves (ping & traceroute data from our probe network of over 100 locations). And then we do a whole lot of work with that data to produce our actual data sets. And there's a whole lot of work that goes into continuing to improve them, evaluate them, and ensure they're consistent etc. It's not easy!

And that's just producing the data. Making it available via a low latency and highly available API that handles over 100 billion requests per month requires some work, along with supporting data downloads in various file formats, and integrations into all of the various platforms that our customers want to use our data with.

And that's just on the engineering side of things!

But I'd say that even if our data was publicly availble (and to be fair some geolocation data is available for free - although it's generally not very accurate, and we also have other data sets beyond just geolocation) - there's still lots of value is making that accessible, easy to use and understand, and helping your customers get back to solving thier own problems while you worry about solving that piece for them.