Google Maps Grounding Lite
Google Maps places, routes and weather through Google's hosted MCP server.
Officialby GoogleHosted, nothing to installChecked October 18, 2026
Maps Grounding Lite is the hosted MCP server of Google Maps Platform, so Claude can look up places, plan driving or walking routes and check the weather using Google Maps data. You need a Google Cloud project with the API enabled and an API key, and usage is billed pay-as-you-go, with name and link resolution free of charge.
Who it is for
- Travel and trip planners
- Local business and real estate research
- Developers building location-aware assistants
Prompts to try
Once it is connected, ask in plain words. Claude decides when to use the server and asks before it changes anything important.
Find three well-rated vegetarian restaurants near the Louvre and tell me how long the walk is to each.What will the weather be like in Chicago tomorrow afternoon?Compute the driving distance and time from Denver to Boulder.How to connect it
In Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport http maps-grounding-lite https://mapstools.googleapis.com/mcp --header "X-Goog-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"
In the Claude desktop app
Not documented
Hosted address: https://mapstools.googleapis.com/mcp
Good to know
Enable the Maps Grounding Lite API on both the project and the key; a Maps Demo Key works for testing without billing. It gives no turn-by-turn directions or live traffic.
Unlock the setup steps
Free. Leave your email once to open the setup steps for all 150 servers, and get the best new connectors each month.
How we checked it
Checked Google's Grounding Lite overview and MCP reference pages (both updated 2026-10) and the registry entry com.googleapis.mapstools/mcp; the endpoint answers the initialize request.