Geocode location in PHP (Google Maps API)

findLocation_with_php.php

<?php
session_start();

define("MAPS_HOST", "maps.google.com");
define("KEY", "YOURGOOGLEMAPSAPIKEY");	//Personal Google Maps API key

//Get address from which we will geocode the coordinates
$address=$_GET['address'];

if( $address!=NULL)
{
	// Initialize delay in geocode speed
	$delay = 0;
	$base_url = "http://" . MAPS_HOST . "/maps/geo?output=xml" . "&key=" . KEY;
	
	$request_url = $base_url . "&q=" . urlencode($address);
	$xml = simplexml_load_file($request_url) or die("URL not loading");
	
	$status = $xml->Response->Status->code;

    if (strcmp($status, "200") == 0)
	{
      // Successful geocode
      $geocode_pending = false;
      $coordinates = $xml->Response->Placemark->Point->coordinates;
      $coordinatesSplit = explode(",", $coordinates);
      // Format: Longitude, Latitude, Altitude
      $lat = $coordinatesSplit[1];
      $lng = $coordinatesSplit[0];
	  
/*****************************************************************************************************/
//Showing the image

	  $mapimage="http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/staticmap?center=".$lat.",".$lng."&zoom=15&size=350x300&markers=color:blue|".$lat.",".$lng."&sensor=false";
	  print("<img src=$mapimage border='0'>");
	}
	else if (strcmp($status, "620") == 0)
	{
      // sent geocodes too fast
      $delay += 100000;
    }
	else {
      // failure to geocode
      $geocode_pending = false;
      echo "Address " . $address . " failed to be Geocoded.<br>Received status " . $status . "<br><br>Please check your address";
    }
	
	usleep($delay);
	
}
else
{
	print("<img src='images/location.png'><br>No address provided");
}
?>

https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/overlays#Markers

This is severely outdated

The correct url is now

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=1600+Amphitheatre+Parkway,+Mountain+View,+CA&key=YOUR_API_KEY