4.59. Geoproximity Routing

What is Geoproximity Routing?

A routing policy in Route 53 that routes DNS queries to the closest resource based on geographic distance.

How is it different from latency-based routing?

Geoproximity uses physical distance, while latency-based uses network latency estimations.

How does Route 53 determine user location?

Using the IP address of the client or DNS resolver.

How do you define a resource location?

• For AWS resources: by AWS Region (e.g., us-east-1, ap-southeast-2)

• For non-AWS resources: using latitude and longitude coordinates.

What is a 'bias' in geoproximity routing?

A numeric value that expands (+) or shrinks (-) the region's size for that resource, influencing which users are routed there.

What happens when a bias is increased?

More traffic is routed to that resource by virtually enlarging its geographic service area.

What happens when a bias is decreased?

Less traffic is routed there by shrinking the service area.

Is geoproximity available in all Route 53 setups?

❗ No – it requires using Route 53 traffic flow, a more advanced configuration tool.

Can geoproximity routing work with health checks?

✅ Yes. If the nearest (biased) resource is unhealthy, traffic can be routed to another.

Common use cases

• Fine-grained regional traffic control

• Overriding default distance-based routing with strategic bias

• Hybrid architectures with AWS and on-prem resources