Skip to main content

Getting Lat and Lon from Address in Google Maps Using PHP

By

Recently, I am working on an application where I have to convert addresses to their corresponding Lat and Lon. So, I decided to write on how to get Latitude and Longitude in Google Maps using only PHP.
To use the technique explained below, you need to have a Google Maps Key.
The idea is simple. Make a request to Google Maps server, and it will return an XML (or JSON). Then, parse the XML to get the Lat and Lon. I use DomDocument and DomXPath for processing it.
Below I have used the address: 100 City Centre Dr., Mississauga, Ontario.
1.$key  = "....."; // your Google Maps key
2. 
3.$address = urlencode('100 City Centre Dr., Mississauga, ON');
4. 
5.$url = 'http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?q='.$address.'&output=xml&oe=utf8&key='.$key;
6.$dom = new DomDocument();
7.$dom->load($url);
At this point, the XML is loaded into the $dom. Now, its about processing it and getting the Lat and Lon
The XML looks like below (it has been shortened):
01.<kml xmlns="http://earth.google.com/kml/2.0"><response>
02.<name>100 City Centre Dr., Mississauga, ON</name>
03.<status><span class="geshifilter"><code class="geshifilter-php"><spanstyle="color: #cc66cc;">200</span></code></span><request>geocode</request></status>
04.<placemark id="p1">
05.<address>100 City Centre Dr, Mississauga, ON L5B 2G6, Canada</address>
06.<addressdetails accuracy="8"xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:ciq:xsdschema:xAL:2.0">.......</addressdetails>
07.<extendeddata>
08.<latlonbox north="43.5962552" south="43.5899600" east="-79.6391027"west="-79.6453979">
09.</latlonbox></extendeddata>
10.<point><coordinates>-79.6422503,43.5931076,0</coordinates></point>
11.</placemark>
12...........
13.</response></kml>
As can be seen, it has lots of data. However, we are only interested in the coordinates and the Status code. On coordinates, the first floating number is Lon and the second is Lat. We need to extract those two separately.
So, I load the XML in a DomXPath, and run an XPath query to extract the Lat and Lon from it
01.$xpath = new DomXPath($dom);
02.$xpath->registerNamespace('ge', 'http://earth.google.com/kml/2.0');
03. 
04.$statusCode = $xpath->query('//ge:Status/ge:code');
05. 
06.// Check if statusCode = 200   
07.if ($statusCode->item(0)->nodeValue == '200') {
08. 
09.$pointStr = $xpath->query('//ge:coordinates');
10.$point = explode(",", $pointStr->item(0)->nodeValue);
11. 
12.$lat = $point[1];
13.$lon = $point[0];
14. 
15.echo '<pre>';
16.echo 'Lat: '.$lat.', Lon: '.$lon;
17.echo '</pre>';
18.}
Thats about it :). I have attached a sample file. Please insert your key there and rename .txt to .php and you should be good to go!.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sending Email in Android using JavaMail API without using the default android app(Builtin Email application)

By
I find a way sending a mail in android using the JavaMail API using Gmail authentication Steps to create a simple Project: MailSenderActivity.java YOUR PACKAGE ; import android . app . Activity ; import android . os . Bundle ; import android . util . Log ; import android . view . View ; import android . widget . Button ; public class MailSenderActivity extends Activity {     /** Called when the activity is first created. */     @Override     public void onCreate ( Bundle savedInstanceState ) {         super . onCreate ( savedInstanceState );         setContentView ( R . layout . main );         final Button send = ( Button ) this . findViewById ( R . id . send );         send . setOnClickListener ( new View . OnClickListener () {             public void onClick ( View v ) {       ...
2 comments
Read more

Reversing Digits of a 32-Bit Integer in Java

By
  Have you ever wondered how to reverse the digits of a signed 32-bit integer in Java? Reversing the digits of an integer is a common programming task, and it's essential to handle it correctly, especially when dealing with constraints like the 32-bit integer range. In this blog post, we'll walk you through how to achieve this task in Java, ensuring that you handle potential integer overflow. The Challenge The challenge is to reverse the digits of a given 32-bit integer x while maintaining the constraints of the problem. In Java, an int can hold 32 bits, with values ranging from -2^31 to 2^31 - 1. Reversing the digits should be done while considering both positive and negative integers and avoiding integer overflow. The Java Solution To reverse the digits of a 32-bit integer in Java, you can follow these steps: java Copy code public int reverse ( int x) { // Initialize variables to store the result and check for the sign of x int result = 0 ; int sign = ...
Post a Comment
Read more