Authorization issue with Google Maps MCP Server

[rachelhung]

Describe the bug
I encountered an authorization issue when attempting to use Google Maps MCP, despite all pre-requisites had been in place. The error I received was: This API project is not authorized to use this API.

Upon investigation, it appears that Google Maps MCP Server is pointing to a legacy Places API endpoint, which my newly created API key is not able to authorize against.

Google provides two versions of the Places API:

1. Legacy Places API: Uses endpoints like https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/*
2. Places API (New) / V1: Uses endpoints like https://places.googleapis.com/v1/*

I did a separate test to verify that my API key works correctly with the Places API (New) V1 endpoints but fails with the legacy endpoints. This suggests that the Google Maps MCP Server needs to be updated to use the newer API endpoints.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

Complete pre-requisites

1. Create a new Google Cloud Project and enable billing, or ensure an existing Google Cloud Project has billing enabled.
2. Enable the Places API (New) / V1 in the Google Cloud Console
3. Create a new API key with access to Places API

Repro steps

1. Add Google Maps MCP Server to Claude Desktop configuration json. Add your API key as well.
2. Restart Claude Desktop.
3. Chat with Claude and ask a question like 10 best coffee places in Seattle
4. Claude responds with they are experiencing an issue Place search failed: This API project is not authorized to use this API.

Expected behavior
Claude shouldn't have an authorization issue with the prompt. The Google Maps MCP Server should work with API keys that are authorized for the Places API (New) / V1, which is the current version of the API.