Connect AI Assistants to MapGO

Give Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client direct access to MapGO's geospatial tools. Sign in with your existing MapGO account — no API key to generate or paste.

The one thing you need

Every client below asks for the same thing — the MapGO server address. Copy it once, then follow the steps for the assistant you use.

https://mapgo.io/api/mcp

There is no API key. Authentication happens through the same MapGO sign-in you already use on mapgo.io.

Claude

Connect Claude

Claude web, desktop and mobile — Settings › Connectors

Open your connector settings

In Claude, click your name in the bottom-left corner, choose Settings, then Connectors. On mobile, open the menu and go to Settings → Connectors.

Add a custom connector

Click Add custom connector at the bottom of the list. Name it MapGO and paste the server address into the URL field.

https://mapgo.io/api/mcp

Connect and sign in

Click Connect. A MapGO sign-in window opens — sign in with your existing MapGO account and approve access. Nothing to copy, no key to paste.

Ask a question

Start a new chat and ask, for example, "How far is 52.2297, 21.0122 from the nearest border?" Claude picks the right MapGO tool on its own. If the tools do not show up, open the tools menu in the chat box and make sure the MapGO connector is switched on.

ChatGPT

Connect ChatGPT

Settings › Connectors — needs a paid ChatGPT plan

Check your plan

Custom connectors are a paid ChatGPT feature (Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu). A free ChatGPT account cannot add an MCP server — use Claude, Claude Code or Cursor instead.

Turn on developer mode

Go to Settings → Connectors → Advanced and enable Developer mode. This is what makes the "create your own connector" option appear.

Create the connector

Back on Settings → Connectors, click Create. Name it MapGO, paste the address as the MCP server URL, and leave authentication set to OAuth.

https://mapgo.io/api/mcp

ChatGPT opens the MapGO sign-in page. Sign in with your existing MapGO account and approve access. ChatGPT then lists the five MapGO tools on the connector.

Use it in a chat

In a new chat, pick MapGO from the tools or connectors menu, then ask your question in plain language.

Claude Code · Cursor

Connect a coding assistant

One command, or one entry in an MCP config file

Claude Code — one command

Run this in your terminal, then run /mcp inside Claude Code and sign in when it prompts you.

claude mcp add --transport http mapgo https://mapgo.io/api/mcp

Cursor, Windsurf and other MCP clients

Open the MCP settings (in Cursor: Settings → Tools & Integrations → New MCP Server) and add MapGO to the config file.

{ "mcpServers": { "mapgo": { "url": "https://mapgo.io/api/mcp" } } }

The first tool call opens a MapGO sign-in in your browser. After that the connection is remembered.

Optional

Add the MapGO skill

The connector gives your assistant the tools. The mapgo-lookups skill teaches it how to use them well: which tool answers which question, how to report a distance together with the exact point it was measured to and a map link, and — most importantly — never to fall back on a guess when a lookup fails or your allowance runs out.

Download skill (.zip)Read SKILL.md

Claude web, desktop and mobile

Go to Settings → Capabilities → Skills, click Upload skill and choose the downloaded mapgo-lookups.zip. Leave the file zipped — that is the format Claude expects.

Claude Code

Unzip the folder into your skills directory, then restart Claude Code.

unzip mapgo-lookups.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

Any other assistant

SKILL.md is plain Markdown. Paste its contents into your system prompt, custom instructions or project rules and it works the same way.

Requirements

A MapGO account: Available on every plan, Free included. Sign in with your existing MapGO account when prompted — there is no API key to generate, copy or rotate.
Free: 10 lookups a day: Free accounts get 10 lookups every day, resetting at midnight UTC. Enough to try the connector properly on real questions before paying for anything.
Paid: a monthly allowance: On a paid plan the daily cap is replaced by your monthly one: 2,000 lookups on Scout, 20,000 on Starter, 150,000 on Professional and 500,000 on Business. That is the same monthly pool bulk CSV uploads and the spreadsheet add-ons draw from — not the daily Analyze-tool search counter.

Compare plans (Scout $9, Starter $29, Professional $79, Business $199) →

Available Tools

5 tools — ask in plain language, the assistant calls the right one

mapgo_location_hierarchy

1 lookup

Continent, country, region, subregion, district, municipality and ISO code for a coordinate.

Example question

"What administrative region is 48.8566, 2.3522 in?"

mapgo_border_distance

1 lookup

Distance to the nearest country, region and sub-region boundary, in km and miles, each with the name of the boundary and the exact point on it the distance was measured to.

Example question

"How far is this point from the nearest border, and which country is it?"

mapgo_coastline_distance

1 lookup

Distance to the nearest coastline, in km and miles, with the exact coastline coordinate the distance was measured to.

Example question

"How far is this point from the sea?"

mapgo_point_distance

1 lookup

Great-circle distance and initial bearing between two coordinates.

Example question

"What's the distance and bearing from Paris to Rome?"

mapgo_convert_coordinates

Free

DMS and UTM notation for a coordinate.

Example question

"Convert 41.8902, 12.4922 to DMS and UTM."

Tips & Notes

Coordinate conversion (mapgo_convert_coordinates) is free and never counts against your allowance, on any plan.
Location hierarchy, border distance, coastline distance and point-to-point distance each count as one lookup, same as an Analyze tool search.
Distance calculations are approximate great-circle distances based on polygon shapefiles.
The spreadsheet add-ons for Google Sheets and Excel are a separate feature and still need a Starter plan and an API key. The connector needs neither.

Need help?

If you have questions or run into issues connecting, we're here to help.