Get the lat,lng base on address

Question

I have

an array of user addresses

array:5 [▼
  0 => array:2 [▼
    "name" => " Admin"
    "address" => "111 Park AveFloor 4 New York, NY"
  ]
  1 => array:2 [▼
    "name" => "User A"
    "address" => "12 Main Street Cambridge, MA"
  ]
  2 => array:2 [▼
    "name" => "Apple  HQ"
    "address" => "1 Infinite Loop Cupertino, California"
  ]
  3 => array:2 [▼
    "name" => "Google MA"
    "address" => "355 Main St Cambridge, MA"
  ]
  4 => array:2 [▼
    "name" => "site HQ"
    "address" => "300 Concord Road  Billerica, MA "
  ]
]

---

My goal

is to grab the lat, and lng of each address, and construct something like this

[
    ["Admin", 18.3114513, -66.9219513, 0],
    ["User A", 25.3253982, 44.5503772, 1],
    ["Apple  HQ", 33.0241101, 39.5865834, 2],
    ["Google MA", 43.9315743, 20.2366877, 3],
    ["site HQ", 32.683063, 35.27481, 4]
]

so I can plot them in Google Map.

---

I tried:

making a curl to

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address='.$address.'&key=***

$data = shell_exec('curl '.$url);

---

I got

this back as a response, after decode it

$data = json_decode($data);

{#278 ▼
  +"results": array:1 [▼
    0 => {#298 ▼
      +"address_components": array:2 [▶]
      +"formatted_address": "PR-111, Puerto Rico"
      +"geometry": {#300 ▼
        +"bounds": {#301 ▶}
        +"location": {#304 ▼
          +"lat": 18.3114513
          +"lng": -66.9219513
        }
        +"location_type": "GEOMETRIC_CENTER"
        +"viewport": {#305 ▶}
      }
      +"place_id": "ChIJrdMXucS4AowRF4jHu2ji58U"
      +"types": array:1 [▶]
    }
  ]
  +"status": "OK"
}

---

As you can see, now I can access the lat,lng by accessing

$location = $data->results[0]->geometry->location;

You might say, if you can access to it - why are you still asking this question ?

Well, that lat,lng data that I'm getting back from the API response produce wrong Google Map Marker.

I'm not sure why/how it is wrong, but I am sure that all my user addresses are in the US, and here is my Google Map Marker Result. None of them showing inside the US.

Google Map Result

---

I'm running out of ideas now.

Any hints / helps / suggestions will mean a lot to me.

---

Update

Thanks to this answer

I be able to get the lat,lng and plot correct markers on my Google Map now.

---

Final Result

Answer 1

You should url-encode your address before you pass it to curl.

urlencode($address);

The spaces in the addresses if not encoded can cause unpredictable problems.

Here is an example of what happens:

Without url encoding:

curl https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=111 Park AveFloor 4 New York, NY

{
   "results" : [
      {
         "address_components" : [
            {
               "long_name" : "111",
               "short_name" : "PR-111",
               "types" : [ "route" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "Puerto Rico",
               "short_name" : "PR",
               "types" : [ "country", "political" ]
            }
         ],
         "formatted_address" : "PR-111, Puerto Rico",
         "geometry" : {
            "bounds" : {
               "northeast" : {
                  "lat" : 18.4485405,
                  "lng" : -66.6643718
               },
               "southwest" : {
                  "lat" : 18.2420721,
                  "lng" : -67.15701799999999
               }
            },
            "location" : {
               "lat" : 18.3114513,
               "lng" : -66.9219513
            },
            "location_type" : "GEOMETRIC_CENTER",
            "viewport" : {
               "northeast" : {
                  "lat" : 18.4485405,
                  "lng" : -66.6643718
               },
               "southwest" : {
                  "lat" : 18.2420721,
                  "lng" : -67.15701799999999
               }
            }
         },
         "place_id" : "ChIJrdMXucS4AowRF4jHu2ji58U",
         "types" : [ "route" ]
      }
   ],
   "status" : "OK"
}

With url encoding:

curl https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=111+Park+AveFloor+4+New+York%2C+NY
{
   "results" : [
      {
         "address_components" : [
            {
               "long_name" : "111",
               "short_name" : "111",
               "types" : [ "street_number" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "Park Avenue",
               "short_name" : "Park Ave",
               "types" : [ "route" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "Midtown East",
               "short_name" : "Midtown East",
               "types" : [ "neighborhood", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "Manhattan",
               "short_name" : "Manhattan",
               "types" : [ "sublocality_level_1", "sublocality", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "New York",
               "short_name" : "New York",
               "types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "New York County",
               "short_name" : "New York County",
               "types" : [ "administrative_area_level_2", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "New York",
               "short_name" : "NY",
               "types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "United States",
               "short_name" : "US",
               "types" : [ "country", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "10170",
               "short_name" : "10170",
               "types" : [ "postal_code" ]
            }
         ],
         "formatted_address" : "111 Park Ave, New York, NY 10170, USA",
         "geometry" : {
            "bounds" : {
               "northeast" : {
                  "lat" : 40.7522096,
                  "lng" : -73.9773591
               },
               "southwest" : {
                  "lat" : 40.7521971,
                  "lng" : -73.97736809999999
               }
            },
            "location" : {
               "lat" : 40.7521971,
               "lng" : -73.97736809999999
            }...