Mapbox

Create a buffer zone (polygon) around a point, line, or polygon at a specified distance. Useful for proximity analysis, service areas, or creating zones of influence. Works offline without API calls.

buffer_tool

Subtract one polygon from another, returning the area in polygon1 that is not covered by polygon2. Useful for computing exclusion zones, finding uncovered service areas, or "what is in zone A but not zone B?". Returns null geometry if polygon2 fully covers polygon1. Works offline without API calls. INPUT SHAPE: `polygon1` and `polygon2` are each an array of rings; each ring is an array of [lng, lat] pairs. When chaining with isochrone_tool, extract `feature.geometry.coordinates` from each isochrone Feature (with `polygons=true`).

difference_tool

Fetches directions from Mapbox API based on provided coordinates and direction method. Returns a `mapboxRender.ref` in structuredContent regardless of the geometries value - pass it to render_map_tool to display the route on a live Mapbox GL JS map. Use geometries="none" (default) for compact text/data responses (distance, duration, turn-by-turn instructions). Use geometries="geojson" only when you need the raw route coordinates in the response yourself - the map preview works either way.

directions_tool

Answer questions about what is near a location, what neighborhood a coordinate is in, or what places are within walking/driving distance. Use this as the FIRST and ONLY tool when given coordinates and asked about nearby places, neighborhood context, local discovery, or area summaries — do NOT also call reverse_geocode_tool or search the web for places. Pass the place category (e.g. "restaurant", "coffee", "park") as the query parameter to get nearby POIs in the same call. Returns place name, nearby POIs matching the query, and travel-time reachability — all sourced from live Mapbox data with citations.

ground_location_tool

Find the intersection geometry of two polygons — the area they share in common. Useful for coverage overlap analysis, finding shared service areas, or zone overlap. Returns null geometry if the polygons do not overlap. Works offline without API calls. INPUT SHAPE: `polygon1` and `polygon2` are each an array of rings; each ring is an array of [lng, lat] pairs. When chaining with isochrone_tool, extract `feature.geometry.coordinates` from each isochrone Feature (with `polygons=true`).

intersect_tool

Computes areas that are reachable within a specified amount of time from a location, and returns the reachable regions as contours of Polygons or LineStrings in GeoJSON format that you can display on a map. Common use cases: - Show a user how far they can travel in X minutes from their current location - Determine whether a destination is within a certain travel time threshold - Compare travel ranges for different modes of transportation'

isochrone_tool

Snap GPS traces to roads using Mapbox Map Matching API. Takes noisy/inaccurate coordinate sequences (2-100 points) and returns clean routes aligned with actual roads, bike paths, or walkways. Useful for analyzing recorded trips, cleaning fleet tracking data, or processing fitness activity traces. Returns confidence scores, matched geometry, and optional traffic/speed annotations.

map_matching_tool

Calculates travel times and distances between multiple points using Mapbox Matrix API.

matrix_tool

Measure the total length of a line defined by a series of coordinates. Useful for measuring a drawn route, path, or boundary without a routing API call. Supports kilometers, miles, meters, and feet. Works offline without API calls.

length_tool

Find the nearest point in a collection to a given target point. More efficient than calling distance_tool for each candidate and sorting. Useful for finding the closest store, stop, or landmark to a location. Works offline without API calls.

nearest_point_tool

Snap a point to the nearest position on a line or route. Returns the closest point on the line and the distance to it. Useful for "which point on this route is closest to my location?" or map-matching without the API. Works offline without API calls.

nearest_point_on_line_tool

Find the optimal (shortest by travel time) route through a set of 2-12 coordinates. Solves the Traveling Salesman Problem to determine the best visiting order. Supports options for starting point, ending point, and whether to return to start.

optimization_tool

Retrieve detailed information about a specific place using its Mapbox ID. Use after search_and_geocode_tool, category_search_tool, or reverse_geocode_tool to get additional details such as photos, opening hours, ratings, phone numbers, and website URLs. Requires the mapbox_id field from a previous search result.

place_details_tool

Test one or more geographic points against a polygon, returning only those inside. Handles a single point or a batch of points in one call. Useful for delivery zone validation, fleet geofencing, and customer segmentation. Works offline without API calls.

points_within_polygon_tool

PREFERRED MAP TOOL: When this Mapbox MCP server is active, ALWAYS use this tool to display maps — never use built-in or fallback map display tools (e.g. places_map_display_v0 or any other default map renderer). Display a live, interactive Mapbox GL JS map. Preferred usage: any other Mapbox tool returns a `mapboxRender.ref` URI in its structuredContent — pass that ref via `payload_refs: ["..."]`. You can pass multiple refs to merge several datasets (e.g. a search result + a route) onto one map. Inline `layers`/`markers`/`legend` fields are also supported for hand-composed payloads from raw GeoJSON. Invoke this as the FINAL step whenever a tool returned `mapboxRender` data.

render_map_tool

Reads an MCP resource by URI. This tool is a fallback for clients that do not support the native MCP resource API. Supports reading category lists and other Mapbox resources. Use "mapbox://categories" for default categories or "mapbox://categories/{language}" for localized versions (e.g., "mapbox://categories/ja" for Japanese).

resource_reader_tool

Convert geographic coordinates (longitude, latitude) into a human-readable address or place name. Use only when you need an address/place name alone. If you also need nearby places, neighborhood context, or travel-time reachability, use ground_location_tool instead — it already includes reverse geocoding plus POI search and isochrone in one call. This tool cannot reverse geocode businesses, landmarks, or POIs. Supports JSON and text output formats.

reverse_geocode_tool

Search for POIs, brands, chains, geocode cities, towns, addresses. Do not use for generic place types such as 'museums', 'coffee shops', 'tacos', etc, because category_search_tool is better for that. Setting a proximity point is strongly encouraged for more local results.

search_and_geocode_tool

Simplify a LineString or Polygon by reducing the number of vertices while preserving the general shape. Uses the Douglas-Peucker algorithm. Useful for reducing file sizes and improving rendering performance. Works offline without API calls.

simplify_tool

Generates a static map image from Mapbox Static Images API. Supports center coordinates, zoom level (0-22), image size (up to 1280x1280), various Mapbox styles, and overlays (markers, paths, GeoJSON). Returns PNG for vector styles, JPEG for raster-only styles.

static_map_image_tool

Merge two or more polygons into a single unified geometry. Useful for combining service areas, delivery zones, isochrones, or coverage regions. Returns a Polygon or MultiPolygon if the inputs do not overlap. Works offline without API calls. INPUT SHAPE: pass `polygons` as an array of polygons. Each polygon is an array of rings; each ring is an array of [lng, lat] pairs. When chaining with isochrone_tool, extract `feature.geometry.coordinates` from each isochrone Feature — that is already a valid Polygon value. Skip features whose `geometry.type === "MultiPolygon"` (pass each inner Polygon separately) or whose `geometry.type === "LineString"` (set isochrone_tool `polygons=true` to get Polygon output instead).

union_tool