Google Maps API Curl Call - Laravel Service

MapService.php

<?php
/**
 * Copyright (c) 2017. Ezeclip
 */

namespace App\Services;

class MapService {
	// Define Constants
	const GOOGLE_API_KEY = "XXXXX";

	/**
	 * @param string $address
	 *
	 * @author Eledi Dyrkaj
	 * @company Manoolia/Digitaleheimat
	 * @return \Illuminate\Http\JsonResponse
	 */
	public static function getLocation( $address = "" ) {
		$address = urlencode( $address );
		$key     = self::GOOGLE_API_KEY;
		$url     = "https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=$address&key=$key";

		// Create a curl call
		$ch      = curl_init();
		$timeout = 5;

		curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url );
		curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 0 );
		curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1 );
		curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0 );
		curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, $timeout );

		$data = curl_exec( $ch );
		// send request and wait for response

		$response = json_decode( $data, true );

		curl_close( $ch );

		return response()->json( $response, 200 );
	}

}