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Google Maps Places

Google Maps Places

Local
github.comMaps & Travel1Updated 2d ago
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About Google Maps Places

Google Maps Places is an MCP server for searching places and retrieving place photos through the Google Places API. It is suited to workflows that need local business details or address checks.

Key features

  1. 01Search places with text queries
  2. 02Retrieve a place photo URL

Use cases

  1. 01Find cafés by location and criteria
  2. 02Check a venue's details for meeting plans
  3. 03Validate or autocomplete a partial address

MCP support

Exposes place search and photo retrieval tools to MCP clients, using the Google Places API through an OAuth proxy.

Configuration

Local server config is the same for every client. Copy it into your client’s MCP config file.

mcp.json · Universal config
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "domdomegg-google-maps-places": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "google-maps-places-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN": "<GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN>",
        "MCP_TRANSPORT": "<MCP_TRANSPORT>",
        "GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID": "<GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID>",
        "GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET": "<GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET>"
      }
    }
  }
}
Run commandnpx -y google-maps-places-mcp
Environment variables to set
GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKENSecretGoogle OAuth access token with cloud-platform scope.
MCP_TRANSPORTTransport type.
GOOGLE_CLIENT_IDGoogle OAuth client ID.
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRETSecretGoogle OAuth client secret.

Local servers need a runtime on your machine (e.g. Node.js 18+). Config file locations differ by client; see your client’s docs.

Packages
npmgoogle-maps-places-mcp1.1.2

Tools

No tool list yet

Local servers expose tools only once running on your machine, and the maintainer has not provided a tool list.

Details

From the project README

google-maps-places-mcp

MCP server for Google Maps Places API - search for places and get photos.

Use Cases

Meeting coordination: Someone emails "Let's meet at Nando's near the office - what time works best for you?" → your AI assistant looks up the location, checks opening hours, and adds it to your calendar with the address.

Local recommendations: Ask "find a quiet café with WiFi near King's Cross for a 2-hour work session" → get places with ratings, hours, and photos to help you decide.

Address validation: Confirm or autocomplete partial addresses before sending mail or booking deliveries.

(These are just examples - any workflow that needs place search or business info can use this.)

Setup

1. Create Google OAuth credentials
  1. Go to Google Cloud Console
  2. Create a new project (or use existing)
  3. Enable the Places API (New)
  4. Go to APIs & Services → OAuth consent screen, set up consent screen
  5. Go to APIs & Services → Credentials → Create Credentials → OAuth client ID
  6. Choose Web application
  7. Add http://localhost:3000/callback to Authorized redirect URIs
  8. Note your Client ID and Client Secret
2. Run the server
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID='your-client-id' \
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET='your-client-secret' \
MCP_TRANSPORT=http \
npm start

The server runs on http://localhost:3000 by default. Change with PORT=3001.

3. Add to your MCP client

With the server running, follow the instructions on install-mcp, which generates the right config for your MCP client (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline, VS Code, and more).

Architecture

This server acts as an OAuth proxy to Google:

graph LR
    A[MCP client] <--> B[google-maps-places-mcp] <--> C[Google OAuth/API]
  1. Server advertises itself as an OAuth authorization server via /.well-known/oauth-authorization-server
  2. /register returns the Google OAuth client credentials
  3. /authorize redirects to Google, encoding the client's callback URL in state
  4. /callback receives the code from Google and forwards to the client's callback
  5. /token proxies token requests to Google, injecting client credentials
  6. /mcp handles MCP requests, using the bearer token to call Places API

The server holds no tokens or state - it just proxies OAuth to Google.

Tools

ToolDescription
places_text_searchSearch for places by text query (e.g., "coffee shops near me")
places_photo_getGet a photo URL for a place

OAuth Scope

  • cloud-platform - Access to Google Cloud APIs (required for Places API New)

Contributing

Pull requests are welcomed on GitHub! To get started:

  1. Install Git and Node.js
  2. Clone the repository
  3. Install dependencies with npm install
  4. Run npm run test to run tests
  5. Build with npm run build

Releases

Versions follow the semantic versioning spec.

To release:

  1. Use npm version <major | minor | patch> to bump the version
  2. Run git push --follow-tags to push with tags
  3. Wait for GitHub Actions to publish to the NPM registry.

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