by Google
Updated October 19, 2026
MCP100 verdict
Not currently recommended. Shortlist — editorially admitted, not a Recommended endorsement.
MCP100 Assessment
Editorial verdict
Reviewed October 19, 2026
Task Fit
Mapped
Specialized workflows
Trust
Status warning
Explicitly not turn-by-turn navigation or live traffic
Maintenance
Date unavailable
No dated repository or package update is currently stored.
Popularity
Signals unavailable
No independently comparable adoption metric is currently stored.
Evidence scope
No MCP-specific repository metric is stored
No MCP-specific package metric is stored
Stars observed October 20, 2026 · Downloads observed October 20, 2026
The reviewed Google Maps entry is Maps Grounding Lite. No current public repository for that managed MCP/service implementation was verified. `googlemaps/platform-ai` is the separate Google Maps Platform Code Assist MCP and must not be used as Grounding Lite adoption evidence.
Maps Grounding Lite is a managed service; no exact installable public package for this reviewed implementation was verified.
Publisher activity observed October 19, 2026
Current source snapshot
Source relationship: First-party MCP
Reviewed October 19, 2026
Evidence-backed setup
Choose your MCP client. A client connects to the MCP server; the language model is selected inside that client. Only stored, source-backed configurations are shown.
Transport not recorded
Complete client-specific setup, verification and removal are not documented in this reviewed source.
Publisher-documented setup is not the same as MCP100 execution testing. “MCP100 logic checked” means the stored configuration shape was reviewed, not that third-party MCP software was run.
Evidence checked 2026-10-19
Type-appropriate, source-backed setup for this mcp server profile.
Loading optional publisher installation details…
{"url":"https://mapstools.googleapis.com/mcp"}Capability
Google Maps MCP is a Google MCP integration for grounded place search, weather and estimated route calculations. Use when an agent needs verified place identifiers and travel context. Maps Grounding Lite is not a turn-by-turn navigation, live traffic, or routing-guidance replacement.
Grounding Lite endpoint; use official names only after exact inventory verified
Not measured yet
Estimated token footprint of the MCP tool schemas exposed to the agent.
https://mapstools.googleapis.com/mcp
Reviewed access
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Google is listed as First-party MCP in MCP100’s current evidence.
Current official resources:
From the publisher README
Original client setup and configuration retained from the publisher documentation.
Publisher-documented clients
These names appear in the publisher's installation documentation. MCP100-verified configurations are shown separately above when available.
This section provides an example of how to configure the Maps Grounding Lite MCP server using the Gemini CLI. For more details, see the MCP servers with the Gemini CLI.
gemini mcp add -s user -t http -H 'X-Goog-Api-Key: API_KEY' maps-grounding-lite-mcp https://mapstools.googleapis.com/mcp
If the configuration was successful, you should see a confirmation that the server has been added to your user settings.
/mcp list command:> /mcp list
Configured MCP servers:
maps-grounding-lite-mcp - Ready (5 tools)
Tools:
- compute_routes
- lookup_weather
- resolve_maps_urls
- resolve_names
- search_places
Original product, capability, tool, and usage documentation from the MCP publisher. Installation sections appear under Install & Agents.
Title: Maps Grounding Lite
URL Source: https://developers.google.com/maps/ai/grounding-lite
Markdown Content: Google Maps Platform Grounding Lite is a service with Model Context Protocol (MCP) support that makes it easy to ground your AI applications with trusted geospatial data from Google Maps. The MCP server provides tools that allow LLMs to access capabilities for places, weather, and routes, and to resolve location names and Google Maps URLs to Place IDs. You can try out Maps Grounding Lite by enabling it in any tool that supports MCP servers.
Maps Grounding Lite provides tools that allow LLMs to access the following Google Maps capabilities:
Search places: Request information about places and get AI-generated place data summaries, as well as Place IDs, latitude and longitude coordinates, and Google Maps links for each of the places included in the summary. You can use the returned Place IDs and latitude and longitude coordinates with other Google Maps Platform APIs to show places on a map.
Lookup weather: Request information about weather and return current conditions, hourly forecasts, and daily forecasts.
Compute routes: Request information about driving or walking routes between two locations and return route distance and duration information.
Resolve names and Resolve Maps URLs: Resolve location names, addresses, and Google Maps URLs to Place IDs. For more information, see Resolution API.
Enabling the Maps Grounding Lite MCP server allows LLMs to call the new tools exposed by the server to return additional grounding information for the data types listed above. While the LLM can use this additional information for context, the response that the LLM ultimately generates may not include the exact information returned by the MCP server. You should verify the accuracy of the generated response.
Maps Grounding Lite provides the Resolution API, which lets you resolve free-form location text and URLs to structured Google Maps place identifiers. The Resolution API is available as REST methods and as tools on the Maps Grounding Lite MCP server:
You can use the returned Place IDs with other Google Maps Platform APIs. Each response also includes a link that saves the resolved places as a list in Google Maps.
For more information, see Maps Tools Resolution API.
With the Google Maps Platform pay-as-you-go pricing model, usage of Maps Grounding Lite is calculated for each request, where each request represents one billing event. Usage is tracked for each product SKU. Your bill shows a line item for each SKU in addition to your total charges. See the Reporting overview for more.
See the Main pricing table and India pricing table for pricing details.
Requests to the Resolution API (ResolveNames and ResolveMapsUrls) are billed at no charge under the Places API Text Search Essentials (IDs Only) SKU.
Maps Grounding Lite is also offered through the Essentials and Pro Subscribe to save packages.
The following quotas apply to the tools and APIs provided by Maps Grounding Lite:
Each Resolution API request counts as one query, regardless of how many items it contains.
Maps Grounding Lite is subject to the Google Maps Platform Terms of Service, including the service-specific terms for this service. This section describes additional service usage requirements for Maps Grounding Lite, including compatible LLMs and source attribution requirements.
You may only use Maps Grounding Lite with an LLM that is compliant with the Google Maps Platform Terms of Service.
For example, you are responsible for ensuring that Google Maps Content is not cached by, stored by, or used to improve the LLM that you choose to use. Before using Maps Grounding Lite, you will need to review the Terms of Service for any model you intend to use with Maps Grounding Lite. You must not use Maps Grounding Lite with any models that use the data input into the model for any model training or improvement. You are responsible for ensuring that your use of the model fully complies with the restrictions on Google Maps Content in the Google Maps Platform Terms of Service, including the service specific terms.
Each tool response from Maps Grounding Lite includes sources. When presenting results that use tools provided by Maps Grounding Lite, you must include the associated Google Maps sources in a way that meets the following requirements:
The search_places tool places field provides sources that support the summary. For places, the following metadata is returned:
place (resource name)idlocationgoogleMapsLinksFor each place, you must generate a link preview that meets these requirements:
places.googleMapsLinks.placeUrl from the response.To use Maps Grounding Lite, you first need a Google Cloud project with the Maps Grounding Lite API service enabled, as well as either an API key or OAuth client ID. Then, you can configure LLMs to access the MCP server. Grounding Lite MCP server uses Streamable HTTP transport.
To enable the API on your project:
You can use an existing API key with Maps Grounding Lite or create a new one, as long as you enable the Maps Grounding Lite API service on both the Google Cloud project and the key.
To authenticate using an API key:
X-Goog-Api-Key header. You need to specify this as a custom HTTP header in the LLM's MCP tool configuration.You can authenticate using OAuth by creating OAuth credentials and passing them to the MCP host or MCP server application.
To authenticate using OAuth:
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/maps-platform.mapstools.For more information, see Using OAuth 2.0 to Access Google APIs.
Once you have a Google Cloud project with the Maps Grounding Lite API service enabled and valid credentials, such as an API key or OAuth client ID and secret, you can configure LLMs to access the MCP server by following the corresponding MCP configuration documentation and using the Maps Grounding Lite MCP server URL: https://mapstools.googleapis.com/mcp
For more information, see Configure MCP in an AI application.
This section provides examples that show how to configure the Grounding Lite MCP server using the Agent Development Kit (ADK) and either Python, Java, or TypeScript.
You can find a complete implementation of this example on GitHub in the adk-samples repository.
McpToolset for Google Maps Grounding LiteModify your agent.py file. Replace YOUR_GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY with your actual API key.
import os from google.adk.agents.llm_agent import Agent from google.adk.tools.mcp_tool import McpToolset from google.adk.tools.mcp_tool.mcp_session_manager import StreamableHTTPConnectionParams
GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY = os.getenv("GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY") if not GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY: GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY = "YOUR_GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY_HERE"
if GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY == "YOUR_GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY_HERE": print("WARNING: GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY is not set.")
root_agent = Agent( model='gemini-flash-latest', name='travel_planner_agent', description='A helpful assistant for planning travel routes.', tools=[ 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" } ) ) ] )
__init__.py ExistsEnsure you have an __init__.py in the same directory as your agent.py:
from . import agent
adk web and InteractSet Environment Variable:
Set your Google Maps API key as an environment variable in your terminal: export GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY="YOUR_ACTUAL_GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY"
Run adk web:
Run the following command to start the ADK web interface: adk web
Interact in the UI:
* Select the travel_planner_agent.
* Try prompts like:
Define an agent that initializes the McpToolset in Java. Replace YOUR_GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY_HERE with the actual API key you obtained if you don't use an environment variable.
package agents;
import com.google.adk.agents.LlmAgent; import com.google.adk.runner.InMemoryRunner; import com.google.adk.sessions.SessionKey; import com.google.adk.tools.mcp.McpToolset; import com.google.adk.tools.mcp.StreamableHttpServerParameters; import com.google.genai.types.Content; import com.google.genai.types.Part; import java.util.HashMap; import java.util.Map;
public class MapsAgentCreator { public static void main(String[] args) { String googleMapsApiKey = System.getenv("GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY"); if (googleMapsApiKey == null || googleMapsApiKey.trim().isEmpty()) { googleMapsApiKey = "YOUR_GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY_HERE"; if ("YOUR_GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY_HERE".equals(googleMapsApiKey)) { System.out.println("WARNING: GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY is not set."); } }
Map<String, String> headers = new HashMap<>(); headers.put("X-Goog-Api-Key", googleMapsApiKey); headers.put("Content-Type", "application/json"); headers.put("Accept", "application/json, text/event-stream");
StreamableHttpServerParameters serverParams = StreamableHttpServerParameters.builder("https://mapstools.googleapis.com/mcp") .headers(headers) .build();
try (McpToolset toolset = new McpToolset(serverParams)) { LlmAgent agent = LlmAgent.builder() .model("gemini-flash-latest") .name("travel_planner_agent") .description("A helpful assistant for planning travel routes.") .tools(toolset) .build();
System.out.println("Agent created: " + agent.name());
InMemoryRunner runner = new InMemoryRunner(agent); String userId = "maps-user-" + System.currentTimeMillis(); String sessionId = "maps-session-" + System.currentTimeMillis(); String promptText = "Please give me directions to the nearest pharmacy to Madison Square Garden.";
SessionKey sessionKey = runner.sessionService() .createSession(runner.appName(), userId, null, sessionId) .blockingGet() .sessionKey(); System.out.println("Session created: " + sessionId + " for user: " + userId);
Content promptContent = Content.fromParts(Part.fromText(promptText)); System.out.println("\nSending prompt: "" + promptText + "" to agent...\n");
runner.runAsync(sessionKey, promptContent) .blockingForEach(event -> { System.out.println("Event received: " + event.toJson()); }); } catch (Exception e) { System.err.println("An error occurred: " + e.getMessage()); e.printStackTrace(); } } }
Define an agent that initializes the MCPToolset in TypeScript:
import 'dotenv/config'; import {LlmAgent, MCPToolset} from "@google/adk";
const googleMapsApiKey = process.env.GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY; if (!googleMapsApiKey) { console.warn("WARNING: GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY is not set."); throw new Error( 'GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY is not provided, please run "export GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY=YOUR_ACTUAL_KEY" to add that.' ); }
export const rootAgent = new LlmAgent({ model: "gemini-flash-latest", name: "travel_planner_agent", description: "A helpful assistant for planning travel.", tools: [ new MCPToolset({ type: "SseConnectionParams", url: "https://mapstools.googleapis.com/mcp", headers: { "X-Goog-Api-Key": googleMapsApiKey, "Content-Type": "application/json", "Accept": "application/json, text/event-stream" } }) ], });
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