MCP tools reference

Every InstaMaps tool: what it is for, when another fits better, its inputs, its sources and their dates, what has been measured, and a real answer from the live server.

llms-full.txt tools.json server.json

For agents: the whole reference in one fetch, as text or JSON.

What every answer guarantees

Nothing is dropped: every row sent comes back, in order, under your own id; rows that cannot be placed or answered say why. An answer that would lose rows fails loudly instead.
Every row carries confidence {level: high | medium | low, score, basis}; basis is a stable code (rooftop, postcode_centre, not_placed…) and the answer's confidence object says what each basis present means and what to do about it.
Every row carries record_key, the same place ID from every tool, so answers from different tools join on it.
Every answer ends with a run block: when, how many rows, sources with their dates, the confidence counts, calls used and left today, and a run_id that any tool can take as source {run} and render_map as from_run.
Lists by reference: pass a Google Sheet, a Drive file or a run_id instead of typing rows. Every tool but one only reads; write_to_sheet puts an answer into the sheet as new dated columns or a new tab, never overwriting.
No vendor or model names in answers; every source is named with its date.

Free: 5,000 tool calls a day per person, reset at midnight UTC; a call counts once however many rows it carries; a sheet by reference is one call; checking a job is free.

Place

geocode_batch

Geocode a list of addresses

Turn a list of addresses, business names, postcodes or coordinates into points, with a confidence and the address parts for every row.

Measure

filter_by_location

Filter records by distance to sites

Which records are within N miles or km of one or more sites, or the nearest sites to each record, by straight-line distance.

get_road_distances

Road distance and drive time for journeys

Road distance and drive time for each from–to journey, on our own road network, with typical weekday traffic.

get_travel_time_area

Area reachable within a travel time

The area reachable from a place within N minutes by car, on foot or by bike, and which of your records fall inside each band.

find_postcodes_in_radius

Every ZIP code or postcode within a radius

Every US ZIP code, or UK postcode sector or district, within a radius of a place, nearest first.

Route

plan_routes

Plan routes for one or more drivers

Split up to 100 stops across up to 10 drivers from one depot, in the best order on real roads, with Google Maps links per driver.

Facts and risk

get_location_facts

Official areas and zones for each address

The official areas each address falls in: US census tract, income level, county, metro, HUBZone, Opportunity Zone, USDA eligibility, FEMA flood zone; GB conservation area, listed buildings, nearest UPRN, England flood zone.

get_area_risk

Crime, flood or natural-hazard risk for each place

One risk fact per place: recorded crime nearby (England and Wales) with the commonest types, flood zone (England, US), or FEMA natural-hazard rating (US).

get_live_hazards

Flood, storm and earthquake warnings in force now

Warnings and events in force now: England's flood warnings, US weather warnings, and worldwide earthquake shaking, hurricanes, floods, wildfires and volcanoes, with kind, level, area, times and outline.

check_live_hazards

Which of your places are inside a live warning or event

Which of your places are inside or near a warning or event now (or were hit by one), with insured values added up.

Around a place

find_nearby

Places of a kind near each address

The nearest, the count, or a list of places of a kind (stations, schools, supermarkets, pharmacies…) around each address.

find_official_places

Official registers near each address (UK)

The official record: A&E departments, hospitals, GP practices, care homes and dentists with CQC ratings, NHS pharmacies, food hygiene ratings; or the record of the business at each row.

Ask a table

ask_table

Ask a question about a table

Answer a plain-English question about a whole table (filters, counts, distances to a named place or a second list), showing how it read the question.

Maps

render_map

Make a map to keep, share or change

A hosted, layered map to keep or share: pins, lines or areas, colours by field, a legend, GeoJSON and KML.

update_map

Change a kept map

Change a kept map in place: add or remove layers, move or add pins, recolour, rename; the link stays the same and earlier versions are kept.

get_map

Look at a kept map

Look at a kept map from an earlier conversation: its layers, pin ids and fields.

Runs and jobs

combine_runs

Combine kept runs on the same places

Join two to six kept runs on the place ID every tool returns (record_key) and say what changed between them.

get_job

How far a background job has got

How far a background job has got: status, rows done, minutes left, and its run_id when done.

write_to_sheet

Put an answer into a Google Sheet

Put an earlier answer into a Google Sheet: new dated columns beside the rows it came from, or a new tab. Never overwrites a cell. The only tool that writes.