US Places, Then vs Tomtom
A side-by-side look at the US Places, Then and Tomtom MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
U
US Places, ThenLocation Services · Local subprocess (stdio)US places then: county on a date, PLSS land, GNIS names, old topo maps, post offices.53GoodAuth: no auth requiredVerdict: choose US Places, Then for location services work as a local process; choose Tomtom for location services as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
UChoose US Places, Then when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Location Services domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- Its auth model fits you: No auth required.
- You want tools like
county_at, county_history, parse_legal_description.
Choose Tomtom when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Location Services domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- You want tools like
geocode, search_poi, reverse_geocode.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | U US Places, Then | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Location Services | Location Services |
| Quality signal | 53/100 · Good | 59/100 · Good |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | No auth required | Not declared |
| Pricing | Free | Not declared |
| Required env vars | None listed | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 0 | 0 |
| Directory activity | 0 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 2 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 12 | 4 |
| Full listing | View US Places, Then | View Tomtom |
Tools & capabilities
US Places, Then tools 12
county_atThe county (or counties) that held a point on a date: a day, a month or a year. Returns the holder, its dates, the event and statute that made it, the whole chain of counties for that spot, changes within a year (check those by hand), and whether two governments contested it.county_historyEvery version of one county: created when, from what, and each later change, with statutes.parse_legal_descriptionRead a land description, however it is written (`E½NE`, `E2NE`, `E 1/2 NE 1/4`, "the east half of the northeast quarter", GLO's padded `0840N`, lots, several tracts), into its parts, with quarter-quarters and warnings for anything guessed. Offline.plss_locatePlace a description on the map: centroid, bounding box, acreage and BLM's ids, to the township, section, quarter-quarter or lot.plss_from_pointName the survey tract at a point: township, range, section and quarter-quarter.public_land_stateWas this state federal land? If not, who granted first title and where those records are; if so, its meridians and special cases. Offline.find_place_nameA named place in GNIS: its point, class, state and county. Searches the live GNIS and, given a state, the archive of August 2021 that keeps the cemeteries, churches, schools, post offices and buildings GNIS dropped that year; says which answered.post_officesWhich US post offices existed, 1639-2000: by name, by state and today's county, or around a point, and in a given year. Each with its years, whether it ran continuously, and its point if it was geocoded.historical_topo_mapsEvery USGS topographic map covering a point, oldest first: date, scale and quadrangle, with GeoPDF, GeoTIFF and JPEG preview links, and a TopoView link for JPEG and KMZ.find_land_entry_fileFrom a patent's Authority: the kind of entry, what its file holds, which National Archives series has it, ready-made arguments for nara-catalog-mcp's `search_records_advanced`, and how to order the file if it is not online. Offline.glo_linksA link to a search, or to one record, on BLM's General Land Office Records site, for you to open. Offline.cache_statusThis session's live calls and cache hits, and the datasets downloaded so far. Offline.
Tomtom tools 4
geocodeGeocoding: convert an address, place name, or free-text location query into geographic coordinates (latitude/longitude). Returns formatted address, country, lat, lon, type, and match score. Example: geocode({ query: "350 5th Ave, New York" })search_poiSearch for points of interest (POIs) — businesses, landmarks, restaurants, gas stations, etc. — by name or category, optionally near a lat/lon center within a radius. Returns name, category, address, coordinates, phone, url, and distance. Example: search_poi({ query: "coffee", lat: 40.748, lon: -73.985, radius: 1000 })reverse_geocodeReverse geocoding: convert latitude/longitude coordinates into a human-readable street address. Returns the freeform address, country, municipality, street name, postal code, and position. Example: reverse_geocode({ lat: 40.748, lon: -73.985 })routeTraffic-aware routing / directions: calculate the best route between two points and return distance plus travel time computed with live traffic. Reports traffic delay so you get realistic ETAs, not free-flow estimates. Supports car, truck, pedestrian, and bicycle travel modes. Example: route({ from_lat: 40.748, from_lon: -73.985, to_lat: 40.689, to_lon: -74.044 })
Ready-to-paste client configs
Paste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.
US Places, Then
{
"mcpServers": {
"us-places-then": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"us-places-mcp"
]
}
}
}
Tomtom
{
"mcpServers": {
"tomtom": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@pipeworx/mcp-tomtom"
]
}
}
}
Frequently asked questions
US Places, Then is categorized under Location Services and uses a local stdio subprocess. Tomtom belongs to Location Services and uses a local stdio subprocess. Pick US Places, Then for location services work and Tomtom for location services.
Copy the mcpServers block from the config section on this page into your client's config (for example claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json), then fully restart the client.
US Places, Then is listed as free. Auth: no auth required. Tomtom has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. If a server needs environment variables such as API keys, define them under the env key in your client's MCP config.
Yes. MCP clients support multiple servers: add us-places-then and tomtom as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, US Places, Then has a quality signal of 53/100 (Good) with 0 views, 0 installs and 0 GitHub stars. Tomtom has 59/100 (Good) with 2 views, 0 installs and 0 GitHub stars.
