Documentation

Find Any Map is a remote MCP connector and a website. It gives Claude tools that search real historical maps that are free to reuse, across the Library of Congress, other archives and the USGS topographic map collection, and return each map with the reason it is public domain and a credit line. Nothing is installed on your computer, and nothing is AI-generated.

Set up

Connector address: https://findanymap.com/api/mcp. You sign in once with an email code or a Google account.

• Claude (web, desktop, iPhone, Android): add it in one click, or Customize → Connectors → Add custom connector.
• Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http find-any-map https://findanymap.com/api/mcp, then /mcp to sign in.
• Cursor and other MCP apps: add {"url": "https://findanymap.com/api/mcp"} to your MCP settings.

Tools

search_maps (query, decade, kind, source, safest_only, limit (all but query optional))

Finds the maps that match a description and returns each with its map_id, date, a preview image, the archive, the licence with the reason it is public domain, and the map's page. kind narrows to one type: map, atlas, view (bird's-eye), chart, sanborn or topo. One search per map you need; each counts once against your monthly searches.

get_map (map_id)

Shows a map's full archive record (description, mapmaker, place, scale, size), the reason it is public domain and the record that was read from, the credit line, a link to download the full-size file, and for a Sanborn atlas or a USGS quadrangle the list of its sheets or editions with their own links. Free.

credits (map_ids)

Writes the credit lines for the maps you used, with the reason each is public domain, ready for a video description, caption or bibliography. Free.

my_usage (none)

Shows the signed-in account, its plan, searches used this month and the size of the index.

whoami (none)

Shows which account the connector is signed in with. Useful to check the connection.

Example prompts

• Here's my script about the fall of Rome. Find a public-domain map for each part and make a list with credits.
• Find a map of Europe in 1914, safest licences only, and give me the download link.
• Is there a Sanborn map of Salt Lake City from the 1890s? List the sheets.
• I need a USGS topographic map of Yosemite Valley from before 1920.
• Give me the credit lines for maps 4021, 877 and 15530.

Sources and limits

• Sources today: the Library of Congress and other archives through their copies on Wikimedia Commons, and the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection. More are being added; see licences.
• Most maps made after 1930 are still under copyright and aren't in the index; US government maps (USGS, US Army, CIA) are the main exception. A “world map in 1937” is often not there to find.
• Free plan: 50 searches a month with an account (5 a day on the website without one). Pro: 2,000 a month (pricing). Claude and the website share the same count. Map details, downloads and credits never count.
• Matching reads the archives' own catalogue records, which can be brief or old-fashioned. Look at each map before you use it.

Privacy

The connector receives only what Claude sends to a tool: your search text and the maps you pick. It doesn't read your conversations, memory or files. Full details: privacy policy.

Troubleshooting

• No good match: say the place, the time and what the map should show rather than a single word, and drop filters.
• Too many sheets of one atlas: results show at most two pages per atlas; open the map's page for the rest.
• Pro doesn't show in Claude: ask Claude to run my_usage and check the email matches the one on your account page.
• Anything else: support@wikivec.com.