The invention provides a GeoIP resolving system (GIRS) which is able to resolve between the IP addresses and the geographic location of servers/hosts/access ports in a wide area network, in particular the internet. GIRS servers are provided which contain resolution tables indicating the correlation between IP addresses and geographic positions of servers/hosts/access ports. The GIRS system can be accessed by indicating a certain geographic area wherein the GIRS system responds by listing all IP addresses of servers/hosts/access ports located in the indicated geographic area. In addition, the service types provided or requested by the found servers/hosts/access ports may be listed. The GIRS system can also be accessed by specifying an IP address. The GIRS system then responds by issuing the geographic coordinates of the location of the host having the indicated IP address and, maybe, the associated service, policy server, as well as administrated area. This adds a geo-based functionality to the internet and therefore increases its usability.