function getCoordinates($address){

$address = str_replace(” “, “+”, $address); // replace all the white space with “+” sign to match with google search pattern

$url = “http://maps.google.com/maps/api/geocode/json?sensor=false&address=$address“;

$response = file_get_contents($url);

$json = json_decode($response,TRUE); //generate array object from the response from the web

return ($json[‘results’][0][‘geometry’][‘location’][‘lat’].”,”.$json[‘results’][0][‘geometry’][‘location’][‘lng’]);
}