Geographical distributions of humans vs bots. The bot patterns depend on whether the bots are advanced or not.

1. September 2017 / Page 0marketing.scienceconsulting group, inc.
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Bots vs Humans On A Map
Marketing Science and advanced analytics expert Peter Zajonc studied the geographic
distribution of human and bot segments. Overall, the geographical distribution of bot
segments mirrored the geolocations of human segments well. But, when advanced bots
are distinguished from less advanced bots, it is clear that the more sophisticated bots
also 1) disguised or randomized their geolocations, or 2) are made from malware on
actual humans’ PCs, which corroborates previous findings from other fraud researchers.
Humans (blue) vs Bots (red) – not much visual difference in geographic distribution
Less sophisticated bots – these bots
did not disguise their geolocations to
appear to be from residential IPs. So
this map shows locations that are
more sparse and concentrated in
cities that are known to have large
data centers or colocation facilities.
Humans (blue) vs Bots (red) – closeups show humans are mainly in metropolitan areas,
while some bots are observed in unpopulated areas outside of cities.