Google maps response's language issue - php

Question

I'll try to be short: if you need more info, I'll tell you.
I'm using this code to get infos from Google Maps:
<?php
function getData($url) {
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0); //Change this to a 1 to return headers
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT']);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
$data = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
return $data;
}
$url = 'http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?output=xml&q=' . urlencode($startPlace);
$url = 'http://maps.google.com/maps/api/geocode/json?sensor=false&gl=IT&address=' . urlencode($startPlace);
$xml = simplexml_load_string($this->getData($this->url)) or die("Error loading xml data");
$points = $xml->Response->Placemark->Point->coordinates;
$provincia = $xml->Response->Placemark->AddressDetails->Country->AdministrativeArea->SubAdministrativeArea->SubAdministrativeAreaName;
$regione =$xml->Response->Placemark->AddressDetails->Country->AdministrativeArea->AdministrativeAreaName;
echo $regione."<br>";
preg_match_all("/-*[0-9.]*(?=,)/", $points[0], $matches);
$longitude = $matches[0][0];
$latitude = $matches[0][2];
The code is used to retrieve infos about italian locations and till three days ago, all worked fine, but this morning I saw something strange: $regione returned by code ($xml->Response->Placemark->AddressDetails->Country->AdministrativeArea->AdministrativeAreaName;) had an english name.
Let's say the location found be a little town in Lombardia (where 'Lombardia' is the name of the Administrative Area), the Administartive Area name returned by Google Maps was no more 'Lombardia' but 'Lombardy'.
Since this data is used to search in a local database other places in the Administrative area and since the name used in the database is obviously italian name, application doesnìt work anymore.
I'll be grateful for any advice

Answer 1

The problem is solved using a different url, specifying language parameter:
'http://maps.google.com/maps/api/geocode/xml?sensor=false&language=IT&address=' . urlencode($startPlace);
This url type return correct results but defferently formed so it is necessary change the code to access the infos and put them into variables, but this solved my problem