NodeJS and Google's Geocoder API

A_dirStructure.txt

//Directory Structure

/app
  /scripts
   |-handleFormSubmit.js
  /node_modules
  /views
   |-index.jade
  /controllers
   |-maps_controller.js
 |-index.js

handleSearch.js

//handleFormSubmit.js

$(document).ready(function() {
  var map = "";
  var markers = [];

  //handle form submission
  $("form").submit(function() {
    //make request to google maps API... 
    //Choice of $.ajax over $.post is due to preference
    $.ajax({
      type: 'post',
      url: $(this).attr('action'),
      data: "location=" + $("#locate").val(),
      complete: function(data) {
        //parse JSON
        responseJSON = $.parseJSON(data.responseText);
        //set maps's center
        var center = '';
        //try getting client's location
        if (google.loader.ClientLocation){
           center = new google.maps.LatLng(
              google.loader.ClientLocation.latitude,
              google.loader.ClientLocation.longitude
          );
        //if client's location is unavailable, 
        //set the queried location as the map's center point
        } else {
           center = new google.maps.LatLng($("#locate").val());
        }
        var opts = {
          zoom: 5,
          center: center,
          mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP
        }
        //create map
        var map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map_div"), opts);
        //geocoder instance
        geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();
        
         //create marker's and bind event listener's
        $.each(responseJSON.Placemark, function(key, val) {
          geocoder.geocode( { 'address': val.address}, function(results, status) {

            var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
              map: map,
              position: results[0].geometry.location,
              title: val.address
            });
            markers.push(marker);
            google.maps.event.addListener(marker, 'click', function() {
              var infoWindow = new google.maps.InfoWindow({
                  content: val.address,                   
                  size: new google.maps.Size(50, 50),
                  position: marker.position
                  });
                  infoWindow.open(map);
             });
            });
        });
        }
      });
  });
});

index.jade

//index.jade

!!! 5
html(lang="en")
  head
    title #{title}
    script(type="text/javascript", src="jquery.min.js")
    script(type="text/javascript", src="https://www.google.com/jsapi")
    script(type="text/javascript")
      google.load("maps", "3.8", {"other_params" : "sensor=false"});
    script(type="text/javascript", src="/assets/handleSearch.js")
  body
    h1 #{title}
    
    form(name="find", action="/search", method="post", onsubmit="return false;")
      | Search
      input(type="text", name="location", id="locate")
      input(type="submit", value="Search")
      
    div(id="map_div", style="width: 900px; height: 100%; float: right;")

index.js

//index.js

//create server
var express = require('express'),
    app = module.exports = express.createServer()
//configure app
app.configure(function() {
  app.set('views', __dirname + '/views');
  app.set('view_options', {layout : false});
  app.use(express.bodyParser());
  app.use(express.methodOverride());
  app.use(app.router);
  app.use("/assets", express.static(__dirname + '/assets'));
  app.use('/models', __dirname + '/models');
});

//include the maps controller
var maps = require('./controllers/maps_controller.js');
//app.<REQUEST_METHOD>(<REQUEST_URI>, <CONTROLLER_METHOD>)
app.get('/', maps.start);
app.post('/search', maps.slugSearch);

app.listen(3385);

maps_controller.js

//maps controller

//require dependencies
var qStr = require('querystring'),
    http = require('http');
//renders the form/index page
exports.start = function(req, res) {
  res.render('index.jade', 
             {layout : false,
              title : "Test",
              scripts : {source : __dirname + "/assets/handleSearch.js"}});
}
//queries API and returns JSON encoded response to be parsed by jQuery
exports.slugSearch = function(req, res) {
    var reqBody = "";
    var reqJSON = "";
    
    var apiKey = "API KEY",
        client = "CLIENT ID",
        place = req.body.location,
        options = {
                host: 'maps.google.com',
                port: 80,
                path: '/maps/geo?'+ 
                       qStr.stringify({"q":place}) +
                       '&output=json&oe=utf8/&sensor=false&key='
                       +apiKey
        };
    
    http.get(options, function(mapsResponse) {
      mapsResponse.setEncoding("utf8");
      
      mapsResponse.on("data", function(chunk) {
        reqBody += chunk;
      });
      mapsResponse.on("end", function() {
        res.send(reqBody);
      });
    });
}