Google Maps

Google Maps Platform

This connector calls three Google Maps Platform web services with the user's own API key: Places API (New) (https://places.googleapis.com/v1: text search, nearby search, place details, photos, autocomplete), Geocoding API v4 (https://geocode.googleapis.com/v4: address to coordinates and back) and Routes API (https://routes.googleapis.com: routes and travel-time matrices). The key goes in the X-Goog-Api-Key header and only to these Google hosts.

Every call is billed to the user's Google Cloud project (each SKU has a free monthly allowance). Keep requests lean and do not repeat searches you already ran.

Setup (about 5 minutes)

1. Open https://console.cloud.google.com, pick or create a project and link a billing account (Google Maps Platform requires billing, even within the free allowance).
2. APIs & Services, Library: enable Places API (New), Geocoding API and Routes API. Only the ones you want to use are needed; a call to an API that is not enabled fails with 403.
3. Google Maps Platform, Keys & Credentials, Create credentials, API key. Under API restrictions allow only those three APIs. Do not set a website (HTTP referrer) restriction: the calls come from a server, not a browser. An IP restriction works only if your AnythingMCP server has a fixed outbound address.
4. Paste the key into GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY and install the connector. The install check reads one place with the free ID-only field mask.

Field masks decide the price. Places searches and details return only the fields you list in field_mask, and Google bills the request at the most expensive tier among them. Ask for what the user needs, nothing more:

• IDs only (free, unlimited): places.id (searches) or id (details). Also photos and attributions.
• Essentials (details only, about $5 per 1,000, 10,000 free a month): formattedAddress, location, addressComponents, types, plusCode, viewport. On searches these fields count as Pro.
• Pro (searches about $32 per 1,000 with 5,000 free; details about $17 with 5,000 free): displayName, businessStatus, googleMapsUri, primaryType, primaryTypeDisplayName, timeZone, utcOffsetMinutes. This is the default for searches and details.
• Enterprise (searches about $35, details about $20 per 1,000, 1,000 free): nationalPhoneNumber, internationalPhoneNumber, websiteUri, rating, userRatingCount, regularOpeningHours, currentOpeningHours, priceLevel, priceRange.
• Enterprise + Atmosphere (searches about $40, details about $25 per 1,000, 1,000 free): reviews, reviewSummary, editorialSummary, generativeSummary, delivery, dineIn, takeout, outdoorSeating, servesVegetarianFood, allowsDogs, accessibilityOptions, parkingOptions, paymentOptions and the other amenity flags.

On searches every place field is prefixed with places. (places.websiteUri) and nextPageToken is added for paging; on details the field has no prefix (websiteUri). Typical masks:

• Lead list with phone and website: places.id,places.displayName,places.formattedAddress,places.nationalPhoneNumber,places.websiteUri,places.rating,places.userRatingCount,places.googleMapsUri,nextPageToken (Enterprise).
• Reviews of one place: details with id,displayName,rating,userRatingCount,reviews,googleMapsUri (Enterprise + Atmosphere).
• Cheapest two-step: search with places.id (free), then details only for the few places the user cares about. Prices are Google's list prices for the first 100,000 calls a month; check https://developers.google.com/maps/billing-and-pricing/pricing for current figures.

Tools

• google_maps_search_text: places from a free-text query ("dentists in Riyadh Al Yasmin", "Bauhaus Freiburg"), with optional type, rating, price and open-now filters and a location bias or restriction. Up to 20 per page and 60 in total over three pages (page_token = nextPageToken).
• google_maps_search_nearby: places of given types within a circle around a point, up to 20, ranked by popularity or distance. No paging.
• google_maps_get_place: details of one place by its id.
• google_maps_get_place_photo: a short-lived image link for a photo name from the photos field (Place Details Photos, about $7 per 1,000, 1,000 free).
• google_maps_autocomplete: suggestions while the user types a place or address (about $2.83 per 1,000 requests, 10,000 free). Pass the same session_token to the autocomplete calls and the final google_maps_get_place of one search session: the autocomplete requests of that session are then free.
• google_maps_geocode_address and google_maps_reverse_geocode: address to coordinates and coordinates to address (Geocoding, about $5 per 1,000, 10,000 free).
• google_maps_compute_routes: distance, duration and legs of a route by car, bike, on foot, two-wheeler or public transport.
• google_maps_compute_route_matrix: distances and durations between several origins and destinations; each origin and destination pair is billed as one element.

Routes billing: Compute Routes Essentials and Compute Route Matrix Essentials (about $5 per 1,000 routes or elements, 10,000 free) for plain requests with up to 10 intermediate stops; Pro (about $10, 5,000 free) as soon as routing_preference is TRAFFIC_AWARE or TRAFFIC_AWARE_OPTIMAL or there are 11 to 25 stops; Enterprise (about $15, 1,000 free) for two-wheeler routing. Leave routing_preference out unless the user asks for live traffic. A matrix may hold at most 625 elements (100 with transit or TRAFFIC_AWARE_OPTIMAL).

Reading results: a place's id is its place id (ChIJ...), its name the resource name places/ChIJ.... displayName.text is the name. Durations are seconds as a string ("1834s"); localizedValues gives them as text ("31 mins"). Coordinates are WGS84 degrees.

Google's terms: show Google Maps content with its attribution ("Google Maps") and link each place to its googleMapsUri; photos must show their authorAttributions. Place ids may be stored for later; other place content may not be cached beyond what the Google Maps Platform terms allow.

Common errors

• 400 API_KEY_INVALID: the key is wrong or deleted.
• 400 INVALID_ARGUMENT naming a field: a wrong field in field_mask or the body. Fix the field name; the mask is required on searches and routes.
• 403 SERVICE_DISABLED or API_KEY_SERVICE_BLOCKED: the API is not enabled in the key's project, or the key's API restrictions do not include it.
• 403 BILLING_DISABLED: link a billing account to the project.
• 429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED: a per-minute quota or a daily cap set in the console. Wait and retry once; do not loop.

Also available from Google: Maps Grounding Lite, Google's own MCP server at https://mapstools.googleapis.com/mcp, answers place searches, weather and simple routes with an AI summary. It does not return place details, reviews, photos, autocomplete, geocoding or matrices, which is why this connector uses the REST APIs.