MCP Tools Reference: mapstools.googleapis.com

Tool: compute_routes

Computes travel routes between an origin and a destination, optionally through intermediate stops. Returns the distance and duration for each route.

Input Requirements (CRITICAL):

  1. origin and destination (objects - MANDATORY): Each must be provided using exactly one of:

    • address (string, e.g., 'Eiffel Tower, Paris'). Named places, landmarks, and businesses are resolved directly, so do NOT call search_places first just to geocode a waypoint. Include any city, region, or country the user mentioned.
    • lat_lng (object, {"latitude": number, "longitude": number}).
    • place_id (string, e.g., 'ChIJOwE_Id1w5EAR4Q27FkL6T_0'), for example from search_places.

  2. intermediate_waypoints (array of objects - OPTIONAL): Up to 10 stops to pass through, in order, between the origin and destination. Same format as origin. Not supported with TRANSIT. Only include stops the user asked for.

  3. travel_mode (enum - OPTIONAL): DRIVE (default), WALK, BICYCLE, or TRANSIT.

  4. Timing (OPTIONAL - set at most ONE): RFC 3339 timestamps with a UTC offset, e.g., '2026-09-19T08:00:00-07:00'. Defaults to departing now. For TRANSIT, the time can be up to 7 days in the past or up to 100 days in the future. For other modes, the time can be up to 365 days in the future and must not be in the past.

    • departure_time: Use when the user says when they will leave (e.g., "tomorrow at 8am").
    • arrival_time: Use when the user says when they must arrive (e.g., "be there by 9am").

  5. routing_preference (enum - OPTIONAL):

    • ROUTING_PREFERENCE_TRAFFIC_UNAWARE (default): ignores live traffic, incidents, and closures. Lowest latency.
    • ROUTING_PREFERENCE_TRAFFIC_AWARE_OPTIMAL: uses live traffic conditions when available. Not supported for WALK or BICYCLE. Set this ONLY when the user asks about traffic, congestion, or a traffic-adjusted ETA. It incurs higher cost and latency.

  6. location_bias (object - OPTIONAL): {"latitude": number, "longitude": number} used to disambiguate place names in waypoint addresses. If a name is ambiguous (e.g., "Springfield") and the user gave no region, keep the name as given in address and set location_bias toward the intended area instead of guessing a region.

  7. compute_alternative_routes (boolean - OPTIONAL): Set to true only when the user asks for route options or alternatives. Defaults to false, which returns only the recommended route.

  8. include_polyline (boolean - OPTIONAL): Set to true only when the route geometry (encoded_polyline) is needed. Defaults to false.

Instructions for Tool Call:

  • If the origin or the destination is missing, you MUST ask the user for clarification before calling the tool.
  • For "How far is A from B?" questions, use B as the origin and A as the destination.

Example Tool Call: {"origin":{"address":"Eiffel Tower"},"destination":{"place_id":"ChIJt_5xIthw5EARoJ71mGq7t74"},"intermediate_waypoints":[{"address":"Louvre Museum"}],"travel_mode":"DRIVE","departure_time":"2026-09-19T08:00:00+02:00"}

Instructions for Response:

  • When alternative routes are requested, routes are ordered from most to least recommended.
  • If routes is empty, tell the user no route was found. Do not guess a route.
  • Only state facts returned by the tool. Do NOT invent turn-by-turn directions, transit lines, stations, platforms, or transfers.
  • The grounded output must be attributed to the source using each route's attribution field when available.

The following code sample shows how to use curl to call the compute_routes MCP tool.

Curl Request 
curl --location 'https://mapstools.googleapis.com/mcp' \
--header 'content-type: application/json' \
--header 'accept: application/json, text/event-stream' \
--data '{
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "compute_routes",
    "arguments": {
      // Provide these details according to the MCP tool specification.
    }
  },
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1
}'

Input Schema

ComputeRoutesRequest.

ComputeRoutesRequest

JSON representation 
{
  "origin": {
    object (Waypoint)
  },
  "destination": {
    object (Waypoint)
  },
  "travelMode": enum (RouteTravelMode),
  "intermediateWaypoints": [
    {
      object (Waypoint)
    }
  ],
  "routingPreference": enum (RoutingPreference),
  "locationBias": {
    object (LatLng)
  },
  "includePolyline": boolean,
  "computeAlternativeRoutes": boolean,

  // Union field timing can be only one of the following:
  "departureTime": string,
  "arrivalTime": string
  // End of list of possible types for union field timing.
}
Fields
origin

object (Waypoint)

Required. Origin waypoint.
destination

object (Waypoint)

Required. Destination waypoint.
travelMode

enum (RouteTravelMode)

Optional. Specifies the mode of transportation.
intermediateWaypoints[]

object (Waypoint)

Optional. Intermediate stops between the origin and destination to pass through in order. At most 10 intermediate waypoints are supported. Intermediate waypoints are not supported when travel_mode is TRANSIT.
routingPreference

enum (RoutingPreference)

Optional. Determines how traffic data is used to compute the route. ROUTING_PREFERENCE_TRAFFIC_AWARE_OPTIMAL is not supported when travel_mode is WALK or BICYCLE. For TRANSIT, it enables realtime transit data, such as delays and cancellations.
locationBias

object (LatLng)

Optional. A location to bias the search results toward, for example to disambiguate waypoint text queries.
includePolyline

boolean

Optional. Whether to include the encoded polyline in the response routes. Defaults to false. When set to true, Route.encoded_polyline is returned.
computeAlternativeRoutes

boolean

Optional. Whether to compute alternative routes in addition to the recommended route. Defaults to false, in which case only the recommended route is returned. When set to true, up to all available routes are returned, though alternatives may not be available for every request.
Union field timing. Specifies when to depart from the origin or arrive at the final waypoint. Defaults to departing at the current time if not specified. For TRANSIT, the time must be at most 7 days in the past and at most 100 days in the future. For other travel modes, the time must not be in the past and must be at most 365 days in the future. timing can be only one of the following:
departureTime

string (Timestamp format)

Optional. Indicates that the route should be computed based on departure time.

Uses RFC 3339, where generated output will always be Z-normalized and use 0, 3, 6 or 9 fractional digits. Offsets other than "Z" are also accepted. Examples: "2014-10-02T15:01:23Z", "2014-10-02T15:01:23.045123456Z" or "2014-10-02T15:01:23+05:30".
arrivalTime

string (Timestamp format)

Optional. Indicates that the route should be computed based on arrival time.

Uses RFC 3339, where generated output will always be Z-normalized and use 0, 3, 6 or 9 fractional digits. Offsets other than "Z" are also accepted. Examples: "2014-10-02T15:01:23Z", "2014-10-02T15:01:23.045123456Z" or "2014-10-02T15:01:23+05:30".

Timestamp

JSON representation 
{
  "seconds": string,
  "nanos": integer
}
Fields
seconds

string (int64 format)

Represents seconds of UTC time since Unix epoch 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z. Must be between -62135596800 and 253402300799 inclusive (which corresponds to 0001-01-01T00:00:00Z to 9999-12-31T23:59:59Z).
nanos

integer

Non-negative fractions of a second at nanosecond resolution. This field is the nanosecond portion of the duration, not an alternative to seconds. Negative second values with fractions must still have non-negative nanos values that count forward in time. Must be between 0 and 999,999,999 inclusive.

Waypoint

JSON representation 
{

  // Union field location_type can be only one of the following:
  "latLng": {
    object (LatLng)
  },
  "placeId": string,
  "address": string
  // End of list of possible types for union field location_type.
}
Fields
Union field location_type. Different ways to represent a location. location_type can be only one of the following:
latLng

object (LatLng)

A point specified using geographic coordinates.
placeId

string

The Place ID associated with the waypoint.
address

string

Human readable address or a plus code. See https://plus.codes for details.

LatLng

JSON representation 
{
  "latitude": number,
  "longitude": number
}
Fields
latitude

number

The latitude in degrees. It must be in the range [-90.0, +90.0].
longitude

number

The longitude in degrees. It must be in the range [-180.0, +180.0].

RouteTravelMode

A set of values used to specify the mode of travel.

Enums
ROUTE_TRAVEL_MODE_UNSPECIFIED No travel mode specified. Defaults to DRIVE.
DRIVE Travel by passenger car.
WALK Travel by walking. NOTE: WALK routes are in beta and might sometimes be missing clear sidewalks or pedestrian paths. You must display this warning to the user for all walking that you display in your app.
BICYCLE Travel by bicycle.
TRANSIT Travel by public transit.

RoutingPreference

A set of values that specify factors to take into consideration when calculating the route.

Enums
ROUTING_PREFERENCE_UNSPECIFIED No routing preference specified. Defaults to ROUTING_PREFERENCE_TRAFFIC_UNAWARE.
ROUTING_PREFERENCE_TRAFFIC_UNAWARE Computes routes without taking live traffic conditions into consideration. Suitable when traffic conditions don't matter or are not applicable. Using this value produces the lowest latency.
ROUTING_PREFERENCE_TRAFFIC_AWARE_OPTIMAL

Calculates routes taking live traffic conditions into consideration, when traffic data is available. For TRANSIT, uses realtime transit data, such as delays and cancellations, when available.

This value will trigger the Pro tier and incur higher billing cost and latency. This is only available for allowlisted customers. If not allowlisted, the request will fall back to ROUTING_PREFERENCE_TRAFFIC_UNAWARE.

Output Schema

ComputeRoutesResponse.

ComputeRoutesResponse

JSON representation 
{
  "routes": [
    {
      object (Route)
    }
  ]
}
Fields
routes[]

object (Route)

Contains routes between the requested origin and destination, ordered from most recommended to least recommended. Only one route is returned unless ComputeRoutesRequest.compute_alternative_routes is set to true.

Route

JSON representation 
{
  "distanceMeters": integer,
  "duration": string,
  "attribution": {
    object (Attribution)
  },
  "encodedPolyline": string,
  "retrievalToken": string
}
Fields
distanceMeters

integer

The travel distance of the route, in meters.
duration

string (Duration format)

The length of time needed to navigate the route.

A duration in seconds with up to nine fractional digits, ending with 's'. Example: "3.5s".
attribution

object (Attribution)

Required attribution to show with the route.
encodedPolyline

string

An encoded polyline of the route. See https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/utilities/polylinealgorithm
retrievalToken

string

A token that can be used to retrieve this specific route in downstream tools, such as SearchAlongRoute. Valid for 10 minutes.

Duration

JSON representation 
{
  "seconds": string,
  "nanos": integer
}
Fields
seconds

string (int64 format)

Signed seconds of the span of time. Must be from -315,576,000,000 to +315,576,000,000 inclusive. Note: these bounds are computed from: 60 sec/min * 60 min/hr * 24 hr/day * 365.25 days/year * 10000 years
nanos

integer

Signed fractions of a second at nanosecond resolution of the span of time. Durations less than one second are represented with a 0 seconds field and a positive or negative nanos field. For durations of one second or more, a non-zero value for the nanos field must be of the same sign as the seconds field. Must be from -999,999,999 to +999,999,999 inclusive.

Attribution

JSON representation 
{
  "title": string,
  "url": string
}
Fields
title

string

The title to display for the attribution.
url

string

The URL to link to for the attribution.

Tool Annotations

Tool annotations are sent to MCP clients to describe the basic risk of a given tool. Most clients treat these hints as untrusted, but they can be used to decide when a confirmation prompt might be sent to a user.

Along with the title string, the following boolean hints are defined as follows:

  • readOnlyHint: If true, the tool doesn't modify its environment. Default: false.
  • destructiveHint: If true, then the tool can perform destructive actions. If false, then the tool can only perform additive actions. Default: true.
  • idempotentHint: If true, then calling the tool repeatedly with the same arguments will have no additional effect on its environment. Default: false.
  • openWorldHint: If true, then the tool can interact with an 'open world' of external entities. If false, then the tool can only interact with internal entities. For example, a web search tool would be open world, while a memory tool would not be open world.

Destructive Hint: ❌ | Idempotent Hint: ❌ | Read Only Hint: ✅ | Open World Hint: ❌