Geocoding with PHP and the Google Maps API

Performing a Geocoder Request

When you perform a geocoder request, you can specify which output type to use. The available options are JSON, XML, KML and CSV. In this article we will be requesting and handling XML data.

Although JSON data is typically used within JavaScript code, we could also easily use this data instead of the XML response. To turn the data into a PHP array you could use the json_decode() function (available since PHP 5.2.0). We will be using SimpleXML in this article to read geocoder data, but to use JSON instead would be a trivial change.

To perform a geocoder request, a HTTP get request is sent to http://maps.google.com/maps/geo. There are three URI parameters that must be specified in this request:

• q – The address or location that you want to geocoded.
• key – This is the Google Maps API key that you created earlier in this article.
• output – This the output format for the response (as discussed above). The values that can be used are json, xml, kml or csv.

For example, if you wanted to find the coordinates of The White House (located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC), you would request the following URL:

http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?q=1600+pennsylvania+ave+washington+dc&output=xml&key=123456

The precise address string you send in the query is not critical – it simply needs enough data in it to identify the location you're after (that is, it should not be ambiguous).

• Next: Understanding the Geocoder Response

Additional Files

• Geocoder.php
  (2KB)
• index.php
  (1KB)
• Placemark.php
  (1KB)
• Point.php
  (1KB)
• test.php
  (1KB)