What it is
Maps Grounding Lite is a remote MCP server from Google Maps Platform at https://mapstools.googleapis.com/mcp, over Streamable HTTP. You need a Google Cloud project with billing on and the Maps Grounding Lite API enabled on both the project and the key. Authenticate with an API key in the X-Goog-Api-Key header or with OAuth using the maps-platform.mapstools scope; a free Maps Demo Key works for testing without billing.
It has five tools: search_places (AI-written place summaries with Place IDs, coordinates and Maps links), lookup_weather (current conditions plus hourly and daily forecasts), compute_routes (distance and duration for driving or walking, with no turn-by-turn directions or live traffic), and resolve_names and resolve_maps_urls for turning names, addresses or Maps links into Place IDs in batches.
Quotas are 300 queries a minute per project for search, weather and routes, and 600 for the two resolve tools. Google's terms require Maps sources to appear immediately after the generated answer and forbid using it with any model that caches, stores or trains on Maps content.
Install
https://mapstools.googleapis.com/mcpOur review
Grounding Lite fixes the thing language models are worst at with places: opening hours, addresses and travel times that sound right and are not. Five tools cover search, weather, travel time and Place ID resolution, and at $7 per 1,000 events after a 10,000 free monthly allowance, it costs less per answer than most teams spend on the model tokens around it.
The contract matters more than the code. Google requires Maps sources to sit immediately after the content they support and be viewable within one user interaction, and each search_places result needs a link preview credited to Google Maps. More restrictive still, you may not use it with a model that stores, caches or trains on what it is given. That rules out consumer chat tiers that train on inputs by default, and it puts the compliance burden on whoever picks the model, not on Google.
The route tool is narrower than its name. It returns distance and duration for driving or walking only, with no directions, live traffic or transit, so a delivery planner still needs the full Routes API. The docs give no preview or GA label and say nothing about how long Google logs the queries, which a privacy review will want answered.
The Cloud setup is the usual friction: a billed project, an enabled API and a restricted key. The pricing table lists a single Grounding Lite SKU and does not say whether weather and route calls also count against the separate Weather and Routes SKUs, so a team forecasting spend should watch the first month's billing export rather than trust a spreadsheet.
Where it earns its place
A two-person team building a travel-planning chatbot
Answer "what's open near my hotel tonight and how long is the walk" without inventing places
The agent chains search_places and compute_routes, roughly two or three events per question; 5,000 questions a month stays near the 10,000 free events. The UI must show a Google Maps-credited link under each place.
An operations analyst at a 30-site field-service company
Clean a spreadsheet of free-text customer addresses into Place IDs
resolve_names takes batches and counts as one query per request, at 600 a minute and no charge, so a list of several thousand addresses resolves in minutes for nothing.
A product manager at a hotel booking site
Add local recommendations with weather to booking confirmation emails
Two calls per booking (places plus weather) at 100,000 bookings a month is about $1,200 at the published tiers, but legal must first confirm the chosen model meets the no-storage, no-training clause.
Before you commit
- Setup
- Add https://mapstools.googleapis.com/mcp to any Streamable HTTP client with an X-Goog-Api-Key header; Google documents Gemini CLI and the Agent Development Kit. A free Demo Key skips billing for a first test.
- Integrations
- Five tools, all read-only: search_places, lookup_weather, compute_routes, resolve_names and resolve_maps_urls. The resolve methods are also available as REST calls.
- Data and privacy
- The server only reads Google data and writes nothing to your accounts. Google's terms bar models that cache, store or train on Maps content; the docs publish nothing on query logging or retention.
- Cost at scale
- An agent averaging three calls per question at 50,000 questions a month uses 150,000 events: 10,000 free, then about $928 at the $7 and $5.95 per 1,000 tiers.
- Limits
- 300 queries a minute per project for search, weather and routes, 600 for resolve; routes give distance and time only, with no directions or traffic.
What's good
- First-party Google Maps place, weather and travel-time data
- 10,000 free events a month, then $7 per 1,000 with volume tiers
- Resolve tools are free and batch many names per query
- Published per-minute quotas: 300 and 600 per project
What's not
- Forbidden with any model that stores or trains on inputs
- Strict on-screen attribution after every grounded answer
- No directions, live traffic or transit in compute_routes
- No published statement on query logging or retention
Best for
Developers adding reliable place, weather and travel-time answers to assistants on a model they can show does not train on inputs.
Alternatives
Google Maps Grounding Lite: common questions
- Is Google Maps Grounding Lite worth it?
- Real Google Maps data for an agent at a modest per-call price, provided your product can live with Google's attribution and no-training rules. We rate it 4.0 out of 5.
- How much does Google Maps Grounding Lite cost?
- Maps Grounding Lite SKU: 10,000 free events a month, then $7 per 1,000, falling to $2.80 above 5 million. Resolve requests are free. Needs a billing-enabled Cloud project.
- What are the downsides of Google Maps Grounding Lite?
- Forbidden with any model that stores or trains on inputs; strict on-screen attribution after every grounded answer; no directions, live traffic or transit in compute_routes; no published statement on query logging or retention.
- Who is Google Maps Grounding Lite best for?
- Developers adding reliable place, weather and travel-time answers to assistants on a model they can show does not train on inputs.
- How much does Google Maps Grounding Lite cost for a team or in production?
- An agent averaging three calls per question at 50,000 questions a month uses 150,000 events: 10,000 free, then about $928 at the $7 and $5.95 per 1,000 tiers.
- Is Google Maps Grounding Lite safe for company data?
- The server only reads Google data and writes nothing to your accounts. Google's terms bar models that cache, store or train on Maps content; the docs publish nothing on query logging or retention.
- What are the best Google Maps Grounding Lite alternatives?
- The closest alternatives we have reviewed are Brave Search MCP Server and Google Workspace MCP servers.
Answers checked Oct 22, 2026.
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