Google Maps

In one line: Give your UnleashX agent location superpowers — find places, convert addresses to coordinates, calculate routes and travel times, and look up timezones and elevation.


Category	Productivity
Authentication	API Key (Google Maps Platform)
Setup time	~5 minutes
Difficulty	Easy
Best for	Agents that need geographic context — finding nearby businesses, validating addresses, planning routes, or estimating travel time.

1. Overview

Google Maps Platform is Google’s suite of location services. It can find places by name or keyword, turn an address into latitude/longitude (geocoding) and back again, calculate driving/walking/transit routes, estimate travel times and distances, and answer questions about timezones, roads, and ground elevation. Once you connect Google Maps to UnleashX, your agent can answer location-aware questions and enrich its workflows with real geographic data. It can find the nearest open store, confirm a customer’s address, tell a caller how long the drive will take, or look up the local time at a destination. Connecting Google Maps is great for booking, delivery, dispatch, and concierge-style agents. Instead of guessing, the agent uses Google’s live map data to give accurate places, directions, and times. All Google Maps tools here are read-only — they look things up and never change your data.

2. What you’ll need

A Google Cloud account (console.cloud.google.com).
A Google Cloud project with billing enabled (Maps Platform requires a billing account, though it includes a generous free tier).
Permission to create credentials (typically Editor / Owner or a role with serviceusage and credential access).
The relevant Maps Platform APIs enabled: Places API, Geocoding API, Directions API, Distance Matrix API, Time Zone API, Roads API, and Elevation API.

If you can’t enable APIs or create keys, ask a Google Cloud project admin to create a Maps Platform API key for you. Connecting only needs the API key string.

3. Get your credentials

Google Maps MCP authenticates with a single Maps Platform API key — a string that looks like AIzaSyXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. Getting one takes five steps in the Google Cloud Console: create a project, turn on billing, enable the APIs you need, create the key, and restrict it.

Step 1 — Create or select a Google Cloud project

Sign in at the Google Cloud Console with your Google account. Click the project dropdown at the top of the page, then choose New Project.

Open the project picker and choose New Project

Give the project a name (for example myHelloWorld or my-maps-agent). Google generates a Project ID automatically — note that it cannot be changed later. Click Create.

If your account belongs to an organization, you can also pick the billing account and organization while creating the project.

Create a project with a billing account and organization selected

Step 2 — Enable billing

Google Maps Platform requires a billing account, even though it includes a generous monthly free credit. Open the menu (☰) and go to Billing, or just type “billing” into the search bar at the top.

Find Billing accounts using the search bar

If the project isn’t linked to a billing account yet, click Link a billing account → Create billing account, and add a credit/debit card.

Once billing is active, the Billing account overview shows your current spend, forecast, and any remaining free credits.

Billing account overview with cost trend and credits

Google usually provides a monthly free usage credit, but a billing account must still be attached or every Maps API call returns REQUEST_DENIED.

Step 3 — Enable the required APIs

Go to APIs & Services → Library and enable each API your agent will use. Search for the API, open it, and click Enable.

For full UnleashX functionality, enable all of these: Places API, Geocoding API, Directions API, Distance Matrix API, Time Zone API, Roads API, and Elevation API. At minimum, the three below cover most agent use cases:

You want to…	Enable this API
Find nearby businesses / autocomplete addresses	Places API
Convert addresses ↔ latitude/longitude	Geocoding API
Display a map on a website	Maps JavaScript API
Get routes & directions	Directions API (or the newer Routes API)

If an API isn’t enabled, the matching tool will fail with REQUEST_DENIED. Enable it in the Library and retry.

Step 4 — Create the API key

Open APIs & Services → Credentials (from the Maps Platform docs you can also click Go to the Credentials page).

Go to the Credentials page from the Maps Platform docs

Click Create credentials → API key. Google generates the key string immediately.

Create an API key from the Maps Platform Keys & Credentials page

The Credentials page lists API keys, OAuth 2.0 Client IDs, and service accounts. For Maps MCP you only need a plain API key — not an OAuth client ID or service account.

The Credentials page with the Create credentials dropdown

Treat the API key like a password. Copy it now and store it securely. For safety, restrict the key (next step) so it can’t be misused if it ever leaks.

Step 5 — Restrict the key (recommended)

Click the newly created key to open its settings. Restrictions prevent quota theft and unauthorized use. Application restrictions — limit who can use the key:

For websites (frontend Maps JavaScript): choose HTTP referrers and add your domains, e.g. https://yourdomain.com/* and https://www.yourdomain.com/*.
For backend servers (the typical UnleashX/MCP case): choose IP addresses and add your server IP. If your server IP isn’t fixed, leave it as None and rely on the API restrictions below.

Restrict the key to HTTP referrers and add your website

API restrictions — limit which APIs the key can call. Select Restrict key, then tick only the APIs you enabled in Step 3.

Restrict and rename the API key, selecting only the APIs you use

Application and API restrictions with the selected APIs listed

Click Save. Changes can take up to 5 minutes to take effect. Your restricted key is now ready to paste into UnleashX (Section 4).

Permissions / APIs this key uses

API	Plain-English reason UnleashX needs it
Places API	Search for places and fetch place details.
Geocoding API	Convert addresses ↔ coordinates.
Directions API	Calculate routes between points.
Distance Matrix API	Estimate travel times and distances.
Time Zone API	Look up the local timezone for a location.
Roads API	Snap GPS points to the nearest roads.
Elevation API	Get ground elevation for coordinates or a path.

4. Connect on UnleashX

Open your agent

Go to Data Connectors

Open Data Connectors and find Google Maps in the list.

Connect

Click Connect / Add / Configure and paste your Maps Platform API key (sent as the api-key / api_key credential). Authenticate once.

Confirm success

When the key works, the status changes to a Connected badge. Your agent can now use the Google Maps tools below.

Use Google Maps in a Workflow

Once connected, you can add Google Maps to any automation from the Workflows builder. Its triggers and tools appear in the Apps panel, marked with an MCP badge.

Add a trigger or action node

Open Workflows → New Workflow. On the canvas, click + Add Trigger (or the + below any node) to add a step.

Pick Google Maps from the Apps panel

In the Paths panel, open the Apps tab and select Google Maps. Use the search box if you have many connectors.

Choose a trigger or tool

Pick the trigger or action you want. Configure its fields — required fields are marked with a red asterisk (*).

Add or select your account

Under Selected account, choose an already-connected account, or click Add Account to connect one now.

Save and test

Fill in the remaining fields and click Save. Use Test to verify the step, then toggle Publish when the workflow is ready.

The steps are the same for every connector. For the full workflow builder guide, see Using MCP in Workflows.

5. Available tools

This server exposes 14 tools. All Google Maps tools are read-only (they look up data and never change anything in your account).

Tool name	What it does	Changes data?
Search Nearby	Find places near a location, with radius/rating/open-now filters.	No
Get Place Details	Get full details for a place by place ID.	No
Geocode	Convert an address into coordinates.	No
Reverse Geocode	Convert coordinates back into an address.	No
Distance Matrix	Calculate travel time/distance between many origins and destinations.	No
Directions	Get a route between an origin and destination.	No
Elevation	Get ground elevation for a list of coordinates.	No
Search Places	Search places by text query (with optional location bias).	No
Search Place Details	Search places and enrich each with detailed info (phone, hours, website, rating).	No
Get Place Details (Single)	Get details for a single place by place ID.	No
Get Directions	Get directions with optional waypoints and travel mode.	No
Get Timezone	Look up the timezone for a location and timestamp.	No
Get Roads	Snap a path of points to the nearest roads.	No
Get Elevation	Get elevation for places/coordinates, optionally sampled along a path.	No

There are two families of tools with overlapping capabilities. Your agent picks whichever best fits the request — both run read-only lookups against Google Maps Platform.

6. Example usage

“Find coffee shops within 1 km of MG Road, Bengaluru that are open now and rated 4+.” → Runs Search Nearby (geocodes the location, then filters by radius, open-now, and minimum rating). “How long does it take to drive from Indiranagar to Bangalore Airport right now?” → Runs Directions (or Distance Matrix) to estimate the route and travel time.

7. Permissions & data access

UnleashX can:

Search for places and fetch place details (name, address, phone, hours, rating, website).
Geocode and reverse-geocode addresses and coordinates.
Calculate routes, travel times, and distances.
Look up timezones, snap points to roads, and get elevation.

UnleashX cannot:

Create, edit, or delete anything in Google Maps — every tool is read-only.
Access your personal Google Maps history, saved places, or Timeline.
Change your Google Cloud project, billing, or API settings.

How to disconnect: In your agent’s Data Connectors, open Google Maps and choose Disconnect to stop UnleashX from using the key immediately. To fully revoke access, delete or regenerate the API key in APIs & Services → Credentials.

8. Troubleshooting

Problem	What it means	How to fix it
`401 Unauthorized` / “API key is required”	No valid API key was provided.	Reconnect Google Maps with a valid Maps Platform API key.
`REQUEST_DENIED` / 403	The API isn’t enabled, billing is off, or the key is restricted away from that API.	Enable the needed API in APIs & Services → Library, confirm billing is on, and check the key’s API restrictions.
`OVER_QUERY_LIMIT` / 429	You’ve hit your usage quota or rate limit.	Wait, raise your quota, or enable billing/upgrade in Google Cloud.
`ZERO_RESULTS`	The query was valid but no places/routes matched.	Broaden the search, increase the radius, or check the spelling of the address.
”Invalid coordinate format”	A location wasn’t a recognizable address or `lat,lng` pair.	Provide a real address or coordinates as `latitude,longitude`.

For general connector issues, see /mcp/integrations.

9. Frequently asked questions

Does this cost money? Google Maps Platform is billed by usage, but includes a substantial monthly free tier. Light agent use often stays within it; heavy use may incur charges from Google (not UnleashX). Is any data changed in my account? No. Every tool here is read-only — it only looks up location information. Can I use one key across multiple agents? Yes. The same Maps Platform API key can be connected to multiple agents. For security, restrict the key to only the APIs you use. Why did a tool fail with “REQUEST_DENIED”? Usually the specific API (e.g. Directions API) isn’t enabled for your project, or your key is restricted away from it. Enable the API and adjust the key restrictions.

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Google Maps

Google Maps

1. Overview

2. What you’ll need

3. Get your credentials