What is Travel Planner

The Travel Planner MCP Server is an implementation designed for travel-related tasks, facilitating interactions with Google Maps and various travel planning services. It allows users to conduct location searches, retrieve place details, and calculate travel times efficiently.

Use cases

This server can be used for various travel planning needs, such as searching for places of interest, obtaining detailed information about specific locations, calculating routes between different destinations, and retrieving timezone information for specific coordinates.

How to use

Users can install the Travel Planner MCP Server via Smithery using a single command or manually via npx or npm. It requires a Google Maps API key for accessing its features and can be configured to work with applications like Claude Desktop through a specific configuration file.

Key features

The server comprises several tools including ‘searchPlaces’ for locating places, ‘getPlaceDetails’ for detailed information, ‘calculateRoute’ for routing between locations in various modes of travel, and ‘getTimeZone’ for timezone data, all utilizing the Google Maps API.

Where to use

The Travel Planner MCP Server is suitable for use in travel planning applications, chatbots, virtual assistants, or any software that requires real-time geographical data and route calculation capabilities, especially those integrating with AI models like Claude.

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 places
    • location (optional): Latitude and longitude to bias results
    • radius (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 location
    • destination (string): Ending location
    • mode (optional): Travel mode (driving, walking, bicycling, transit)

• getTimeZone

  • Get timezone information for a location
  • Input:
    • location: Latitude and longitude coordinates
    • timestamp (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

1. Clone the repository
2. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   

3. 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

License

This MCP server is licensed under the MIT License. For more details, please see the LICENSE file in the project repository.