Plan Travel with Google Maps Data
Travel Planner MCP connects Claude to Google Maps, letting it search places, fetch place details, calculate routes, and look up time zones.
Why it matters
Integrate LLMs with Google Maps API to automate travel planning tasks, including location searches, route calculations, and timezone lookups.
Outcomes
What it gets done
Search for places using Google Places API.
Calculate routes between locations with various transport modes.
Retrieve detailed place information and timezone data.
Enable LLMs to perform travel-related queries.
Install
Add it to your toolbox
Run in your project directory:
curl -fsSL https://spark.entire.vc/get/vb-travel-planner | bash Capabilities
Tools your agent gets
Search places using Google Places API with location binding and radius configuration options
Retrieve detailed information about a specific place using Google Place ID
Calculate routes between two points with various transportation modes (driving, walking, cycling, public transit)
Retrieve timezone information for a location using coordinates and optional timestamp
Overview
Travel Planner MCP Server
Travel Planner MCP puts Google Maps behind an AI assistant, so it can search places, pull place details, calculate routes across driving, walking, bicycling, or transit, and resolve time zones for any location. Use it when building a trip-planning or itinerary assistant that needs accurate place and routing data rather than model guesses; it requires your own Google Maps API key.
What it does
Travel Planner MCP Server is a Model Context Protocol implementation that wires an LLM into Google Maps and related travel services. It lets an assistant search for places, pull detailed information about a specific location, calculate routes between two points, and resolve timezone information for any coordinate - all through Google's own Places, Directions, Geocoding, and Time Zone APIs.
When to use - and when NOT to
Use this connector when you want your assistant to help plan trips or itineraries: finding points of interest near a location, comparing travel modes (driving, walking, bicycling, transit) between two stops, or checking what time it is at a destination before scheduling something. It is not a booking engine - it does not reserve flights, hotels, or tickets, and it does nothing without a valid Google Maps API key with the required APIs enabled on your Google Cloud account.
Capabilities
searchPlaces: searches Google Places by query text, optionally biased by a lat/long location and search radius.getPlaceDetails: retrieves detailed information for a specific Google Place ID.calculateRoute: computes a route between an origin and destination, with optional travel mode (driving, walking, bicycling, transit).getTimeZone: returns timezone information for a given location, optionally at a specific timestamp.
How to install
Install automatically for Claude Desktop via Smithery:
npx -y @smithery/cli install @GongRzhe/TRAVEL-PLANNER-MCP-Server --client claude
Or run it manually with npx, supplying your API key as an environment variable:
GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY=your_api_key npx @gongrzhe/server-travelplanner-mcp
For Claude Desktop, add it to the mcpServers section of claude_desktop_config.json with command: npx, args: ["@gongrzhe/server-travelplanner-mcp"], and the GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY environment variable set. The key must have the Places API, Directions API, Geocoding API, and Time Zone API enabled.
Who it's for
Developers and power users building or using an AI travel-planning assistant that needs real Google Maps data - place search, routing, and timezone lookups - rather than relying on the model's own guesses about geography.
Source README
Travel Planner MCP Server (@gongrzhe/server-travelplanner-mcp)
A Travel Planner Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation for interacting with Google Maps and travel planning services. This server enables LLMs to perform travel-related tasks such as location search, place details lookup, and travel time calculations.
Installation & Usage
Installing via Smithery
To install Travel Planner for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:
npx -y @smithery/cli install @GongRzhe/TRAVEL-PLANNER-MCP-Server --client claude
Installing Manually
# Using npx (recommended)
npx @gongrzhe/server-travelplanner-mcp
# With environment variable for Google Maps API
GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY=your_api_key npx @gongrzhe/server-travelplanner-mcp
Or install globally:
# Install globally
npm install -g @gongrzhe/server-travelplanner-mcp
# Run after global installation
GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY=your_api_key @gongrzhe/server-travelplanner-mcp
Components
Tools
searchPlaces
- Search for places using Google Places API
- Input:
query(string): Search query for placeslocation(optional): Latitude and longitude to bias resultsradius(optional): Search radius in meters
getPlaceDetails
- Get detailed information about a specific place
- Input:
placeId(string): Google Place ID to retrieve details for
calculateRoute
- Calculate route between two locations
- Input:
origin(string): Starting locationdestination(string): Ending locationmode(optional): Travel mode (driving, walking, bicycling, transit)
getTimeZone
- Get timezone information for a location
- Input:
location: Latitude and longitude coordinatestimestamp(optional): Timestamp for time zone calculation
Configuration
Usage with Claude Desktop
To use this server with the Claude Desktop app, add the following configuration to the "mcpServers" section of your claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"travel-planner": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["@gongrzhe/server-travelplanner-mcp"],
"env": {
"GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY": "your_google_maps_api_key"
}
}
}
}
Alternatively, you can use the node command directly if you have the package installed:
{
"mcpServers": {
"travel-planner": {
"command": "node",
"args": ["path/to/dist/index.js"],
"env": {
"GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY": "your_google_maps_api_key"
}
}
}
}
Development
Building from Source
- Clone the repository
- Install dependencies:
npm install - Build the project:
npm run build
Environment Variables
GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY(required): Your Google Maps API key with the following APIs enabled:- Places API
- Directions API
- Geocoding API
- Time Zone API
FAQ
Common questions
Discussion
Questions & comments · 0
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