n8n-nodes-google-maps-platform

An n8n community node for the official Google Maps Platform APIs — Geocoding, Directions, Distance Matrix, and Timezone — with proper credential handling and error messages instead of raw HTTP Request nodes.

Directions and Distance Matrix are built on Google's current Routes API, not the legacy Directions/Distance Matrix APIs (those are feature-frozen and unavailable to new Google Cloud projects).

What's included

| Resource | Operation | What it does | |---|---|---| | Geocoding | Geocode | Address → coordinates, formatted address, place components | | Geocoding | Reverse Geocode | Coordinates → human-readable address | | Route | Get Route | Origin + destination (as address, coordinates, or Place ID) (+ optional departure/arrival time and waypoints) → distance, duration, turn-by-turn steps, polyline | | Distance Matrix | Get Distance & Duration | Batch of origins × destinations → distance/duration for every pair | | Timezone | Get Timezone | Coordinates + point in time → IANA timezone ID and UTC offset |

The node is also available to n8n's AI Agent nodes as a tool (usableAsTool: true) — an agent can resolve an address or compute an ETA mid-conversation without a separate HTTP Request tool definition.

Installation

In n8n: Settings → Community Nodes → Install, then enter n8n-nodes-google-maps-platform.

For a self-hosted/npm-based install:

npm install n8n-nodes-google-maps-platform

Credential setup

1. In Google Cloud Console, create or select a project, and link a billing account — Google requires this even to use the free tier.
2. Enable the three APIs this node needs (they're billed and enabled independently of each other):
   • Geocoding API
   • Routes API (covers both Directions and Distance Matrix)
   • Time Zone API
3. Create an API key under APIs & Services → Credentials.
4. Restrict the key by API, selecting the three APIs above — do not use website/referrer or IP restrictions. n8n calls Google server-to-server, so there's no browser referrer to check, and IP restrictions break the moment your n8n instance's outbound IP changes (common on n8n Cloud or any dynamic-IP host).
5. In n8n, create a Google Maps Platform API credential and paste in the key.

The credential's built-in test only calls the Geocoding API — a green check confirms the key and Geocoding are working, but does not confirm Routes or Timezone are enabled on the same project. If Route/Distance Matrix/Timezone operations fail with an auth-looking error after the credential test passes, double check those two APIs are actually enabled in step 2.

Example use case

Standardize and geocode property addresses, then compute distance to key amenities:

1. Geocoding → Geocode each address in your list to get clean, standardized coordinates and a formatted address.
2. Distance Matrix → Get Distance & Duration with those coordinates as origins and your amenities (transit, schools, grocery stores) as destinations, to get travel distance/time to each.
3. Feed the result into whatever scores or filters listings by proximity.

Geocoding 20 W 34th St, New York, NY returns a standardized, ROOFTOP-precision address and coordinates:

That result feeds directly into Distance Matrix as the origin, computing real distance and duration to two destinations in one call — note the output is labeled by address, not by the raw index Google's API actually returns:

Billing — read this before running large batches

• The March 2025 pricing restructure replaced Google's flat monthly credit with per-SKU free tiers: 10,000 events/month for Essentials, 5,000 for Pro, 1,000 for Enterprise. Geocoding, Timezone, and basic Directions/Distance Matrix calls are Essentials.
• Setting Routing Preference to TRAFFIC_AWARE or TRAFFIC_AWARE_OPTIMAL on Get Route or Get Distance & Duration moves that request to the Pro tier and its lower 5,000/month cap. So does using more than 10 waypoints, or enabling Optimize Waypoint Order in Additional Fields, on Get Route.
• Setting Travel Mode to Two Wheeler on Get Route or Get Distance & Duration moves that request to the Enterprise tier — the smallest free tier of the three, at 1,000 events/month.
• Get Distance & Duration bills per element, not per request: origins × destinations. A 25×25 request is 625 billable elements — about 16 such calls exhausts the entire monthly Essentials free tier. This is invisible from the n8n canvas, where it looks like one node execution.

Security notes

• The API key is visible in plaintext in n8n's execution logs and the "show request" debug panel. This is inherent to how Google's APIs authenticate (query param or header, not a signed token) and isn't something this node can hide.
• Restrict the key by API, not by referrer/IP (see credential setup above).

Development

See CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md for the project's architecture notes and n8n node-building conventions, and docs/google-maps-node-plan.md / docs/google-maps-node-implementation.md for the full build history and every gotcha hit along the way.

npm install       # install dependencies
npm run dev       # boots a local n8n at localhost:5678 with this node loaded
                  # (already running n8n elsewhere on 5678? set N8N_PORT=<free port> first)
npm run build     # compile TypeScript
npm run lint      # eslint-plugin-n8n-nodes-base rules
npm test          # vitest unit tests for the response-shaping logic

License

MIT — see LICENSE.