Google Maps MCP Server

<!-- mcp-name: com.hasdata/google-maps -->

A hosted Google Maps MCP server that gives Claude, Cursor, Windsurf and any other MCP client six read-only Google Maps tools. Search places, read a place in full, pull its reviews, photos and posts, and walk a single reviewer's history, all as structured JSON, with no Google Cloud project and no billing to enable.

1,000 free credits every month, no card required, which is 100 calls at the 10-credit rate.

https://mcp.hasdata.com/mcp?apis=google_maps

• Prompts and resources

Contents

• What you need
• Quick start
• Example prompts
• Tools
• Errors and failure paths
• Pricing, free tier and limits
• Tool selection
• How it compares
• FAQ
• HasData links
• Development
• Contributing
• License

What you need

An MCP client that speaks streamable HTTP with custom headers. A HasData API key from the dashboard, free to create with no card, and the free tier covers about 100 calls a month at the 10-credit rate. Nothing else. This is a remote server, so the simplest path is a URL and a header, with no container to run and no Google Cloud project or API key anywhere in the flow. A stdio-only client can use the @hasdata/google-maps-mcp (npm) or hasdata-google-maps-mcp (PyPI) launcher instead.

Quick start

| | | | :--- | :--- | | URL | https://mcp.hasdata.com/mcp?apis=google_maps | | Transport | HTTP, streamable | | Auth header | x-api-key: HASDATA_API_KEY |

The server URL is the same for every client. We run it hands-on in Claude Code and Claude Desktop. The other blocks follow each client's own documented format for a remote server.

Clients with OAuth support can add the same URL as a connector and sign in without putting a key in a config file.

<details> <summary><b>Claude Code</b></summary>

claude mcp add --transport http google-maps "https://mcp.hasdata.com/mcp?apis=google_maps" \
  --header "x-api-key: HASDATA_API_KEY"

</details> <details> <summary><b>Claude Desktop</b></summary>

Claude Desktop loads only local (stdio) servers from its config file, so it reaches a remote server through a stdio launcher. The @hasdata/google-maps-mcp package is that launcher, and it reads the key from the environment.

claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-maps": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@hasdata/google-maps-mcp"],
      "env": { "HASDATA_API_KEY": "YOUR_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

Python instead of Node? Swap the launcher for the PyPI package, which uvx runs without a manual install:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-maps": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["hasdata-google-maps-mcp"],
      "env": { "HASDATA_API_KEY": "YOUR_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

A client with OAuth support can instead add the URL as a custom connector and skip the launcher.

</details> <details> <summary><b>Cursor</b></summary>

.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-maps": {
      "url": "https://mcp.hasdata.com/mcp?apis=google_maps",
      "headers": { "x-api-key": "HASDATA_API_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

</details> <details> <summary><b>Windsurf</b></summary>

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-maps": {
      "serverUrl": "https://mcp.hasdata.com/mcp?apis=google_maps",
      "headers": { "x-api-key": "HASDATA_API_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

</details> <details> <summary><b>Cline</b></summary>

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-maps": {
      "url": "https://mcp.hasdata.com/mcp?apis=google_maps",
      "type": "streamableHttp",
      "headers": { "x-api-key": "HASDATA_API_KEY" },
      "disabled": false
    }
  }
}

</details> <details> <summary><b>VS Code</b></summary>

.vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "google-maps": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.hasdata.com/mcp?apis=google_maps",
      "headers": { "x-api-key": "HASDATA_API_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

</details> <details> <summary><b>Gemini CLI</b></summary>

~/.gemini/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-maps": {
      "httpUrl": "https://mcp.hasdata.com/mcp?apis=google_maps",
      "headers": { "x-api-key": "HASDATA_API_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

</details>

Example prompts

Each of these is one tool call unless the count says otherwise.

Search Google Maps for coffee near downtown Seattle and give me the top ten with their rating, review count and website.

One call, 10 credits. Search returns the places with placeId and dataId already attached, and the follow-ups below need no lookup step.

Pull the full details for ChIJAb0KE0RrkFQRuI4X0By5Mcw: hours, service options, price level and the menu link.

One call, 10 credits.

Read the latest reviews for that place, sorted newest first, and tell me which topics come up most.

One call, 10 credits. The response carries Google's own topic clusters with a mention count each, and the ranking is in the data.

Take the author of the top review and list every other place they have reviewed, with the rating they left.

One call, 10 credits. A review carries its author's contributorId, which is exactly what the contributor tool takes.

Get the photo feed for that place and the business's recent posts.

Two calls. Photos and posts cost 10 credits each.

Two things make these chains cheap. Search hands back placeId and dataId on every result, and the detail, review, photo and post calls need no separate resolve step. And a review carries the author's contributorId, which turns "who left this review" into a one-call jump to that person's whole history.

Tools

| Tool | What it returns | | --- | --- | | hasdata_google_maps_contributor_reviews_getMapReviews | Per-review rating, text, date, place name, place address, placeId, photos, and owner responses. 10 credits a call | | hasdata_google_maps_photos_getMapPhotos | Each photo with image URL, thumbnail, upload date, uploader, and photoId. 10 credits a call | | hasdata_google_maps_place_getPlaceDetails | Name, address, coordinates, phone, website, categories, hours, rating, review count, price level, photos, popular times, attributes/amenities, plus_code, and map URL. 10 credits a call | | hasdata_google_maps_posts_getMapPosts | Per-post title, description, image, posted_at, link, and source/business name. 10 credits a call | | hasdata_google_maps_reviews_getMapReviews | Per-review author name and profile link, star rating, text, published/relative date, likes count, owner response, attached photos, and local-guide flag. 10 credits a call | | hasdata_google_maps_search_performMapSearch | The local pack list with placeId, name, address, coordinates, rating, review count, price level, categories, phone, website, hours, and thumbnail. 10 credits a call |

Six tools, all read-only. Samples below are trimmed from real calls, and the numbers in them move as places gain reviews. Read them as shapes. Each tool name links to its endpoint reference.

The samples are the payload, not the whole response. A tools/call result carries one text block, and that text is itself JSON holding url, status, text and json, with the scraped data under json. From a raw JSON-RPC response the path is result.content[0].text, parsed, then .json. A chat client unwraps that for you and code talking to the endpoint directly does not.

Four of the tools accept a place by either placeId or dataId. Search returns both on every result. The usual flow is one search followed by detail, review, photo or post calls that reuse whichever id you kept.

Search Google Maps

hasdata_google_maps_search_performMapSearch

Places for a query, ranked as Google Maps ranks them.

| Parameter | Type | Required | Notes | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | q | string | yes | Free-text query, for example coffee or plumber | | ll | string | | Map centre and zoom as @lat,lng,zoomz, for example @47.6062,-122.3321,14z. This is how you pin the search to a place | | gl / hl | string | | Two-letter country and language codes | | domain | string | | Google domain to query, for example google.com | | start | number | | Result offset for paging, in steps of 20. Requires ll to be set as well |

Each result carries position, title, placeId, dataId, address, gpsCoordinates, rating, reviews, type, types, price, website, thumbnail, openState, workingHours, serviceOptions and, where Google shows one, a menu link.

Location lives in ll, not in the query. Put the map centre and zoom there, because "coffee" alone returns wherever Google decides you are. The zoom digit widens or narrows the area the results are drawn from.

{
  "localResults": [
    {
      "position": 1,
      "title": "Howdy Y'all Coffee (Central Library)",
      "placeId": "ChIJAb0KE0RrkFQRuI4X0By5Mcw",
      "dataId": "0x54906b44130abd01:0xcc31b91cd0178eb8",
      "address": "1000 4th Ave Fl 3, Seattle, WA 98104",
      "rating": 4.9,
      "reviews": 117,
      "type": "Coffee shop",
      "website": "https://howdyyallcoffee.com/",
      "workingHours": {
        "timezone": "America/Los_Angeles",
        "days": [ { "day": "Friday", "time": "10 AM–4 PM" } ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

Get place details

hasdata_google_maps_place_getPlaceDetails

One place in full by placeId.

| Parameter | Type | Required | Notes | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | placeId | string | yes | The placeId from a search result | | hl | string | | Language code | | domain | string | | Google domain |

Returns a single placeResults object with the same fields a search result carries, plus an images array. It is the way to get one place's full record without running a search you do not need.

Get place reviews

hasdata_google_maps_reviews_getMapReviews

The review feed for a place, page by page.

| Parameter | Type | Required | Notes | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | placeId | string | | The place. Either placeId or dataId has to be present | | dataId | string | | The place as a dataId instead | | sortBy | string | | `mo