Google Maps MCP Server

Maps Grounding Lite is a Google-managed, remote MCP server that connects AI agents to live Google Maps Platform data. It is positioned as a lightweight grounding service designed to prevent location-related hallucinations by giving any LLM direct access to authoritative information on places, weather, and routing. Google hosts the server at https://mapstools.googleapis.com/mcp and handles scaling, reliability, and security, so there is no infrastructure to manage.

The server exposes three tools: search_places for discovering businesses, addresses, and points of interest across Google's catalog of places; lookup_weather for current conditions plus hourly (up to 120 hours) and daily (up to 10 days) forecasts; and compute_routes for distance and travel time between an origin and destination by car or on foot. Turn-by-turn navigation is intentionally out of scope.

Authentication uses either a Google Maps Platform API key (passed via the X-Goog-Api-Key header) or OAuth 2.0 with the https://www.googleapis.com/auth/maps-platform.mapstools scope. A Maps Demo Key is available for testing without billing. Quotas are set at 300 queries per minute per project across all three tools, and usage is billed under the standard Maps Platform pay-as-you-go SKUs or via Essentials/Pro subscription plans.

Tools

Prerequisites

• A Google Cloud project with the Maps Grounding Lite API enabled
• A billing account attached to the project (or use the Maps Demo Key for testing)
• A Google Maps Platform API key, or OAuth 2.0 credentials with scope https://www.googleapis.com/auth/maps-platform.mapstools

Server endpoint

https://mapstools.googleapis.com/mcp

Authentication is sent via the X-Goog-Api-Key header.

Gemini CLI

Add to ~/.gemini/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "maps-grounding-lite": {
      "httpUrl": "https://mapstools.googleapis.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-Goog-Api-Key": "YOUR_MAPS_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

claude mcp add maps-grounding-lite \
  --transport http \
  https://mapstools.googleapis.com/mcp \
  --header "X-Goog-Api-Key: YOUR_MAPS_API_KEY"

Agent Development Kit (Python)

from google.adk.tools.mcp_tool import McpToolset, StreamableHTTPConnectionParams

McpToolset(
  connection_params=StreamableHTTPConnectionParams(
    url="https://mapstools.googleapis.com/mcp",
    headers={
      "X-Goog-Api-Key": GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY,
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
      "Accept": "application/json, text/event-stream"
    }
  )
)

For Claude Desktop and other clients that require a stdio bridge, use a generic remote-MCP proxy and forward the X-Goog-Api-Key header to the server URL above.

• Ground a travel-planning agent in real Google Maps places so recommendations link to actual businesses with verified addresses and Place IDs
• Answer commute and logistics questions like driving distance or walking time between two locations without manual API plumbing
• Enrich CRM or itinerary records with canonical Place IDs and coordinates resolved from free-text addresses
• Drive packing, scheduling, or "what to wear" suggestions using current conditions and multi-day forecasts for a destination
• Build a concierge agent that combines nearby place search with weather-aware route suggestions for a trip

• "Find kid-friendly Italian restaurants within 1km of the Eiffel Tower and give me their Google Maps links."
• "How far is the nearest national park from 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, and how long does it take to drive there?"
• "What's the hourly weather forecast in Tokyo for tomorrow in imperial units?"
• "Walk me from Shibuya Crossing to Senso-ji Temple. How long will it take and how far is it?"
• "What should I pack for a 3-day trip to Reykjavik next week based on the daily forecast?"

• Official, Google-managed remote MCP server, no infrastructure or self-hosting required
• Backed by Google Maps Platform data including 300M+ places and authoritative weather and routing
• Simple API-key authentication and a free Demo Key for prototyping
• Works with any MCP-compatible client (Gemini CLI, Claude Code, ADK, VS Code)

• Only three tools: no turn-by-turn directions, geocoding-only endpoints, traffic layers, or Street View
• Requires a Google Cloud project with billing for production use and is billed per request under Maps Platform SKUs
• Driving and walking are the only supported travel modes (no transit, bicycling, or two-wheeler)

• cablate/mcp-google-map: community-maintained open-source server wrapping more of the Google Maps APIs
• googlemaps/platform-ai (Google Maps Platform Code Assist toolkit): experimental Google-published MCP server focused on developer assistance for Maps APIs
• david-pivonka/google-maps-mcp-server: STDIO-based community server covering geocoding, places, and routing