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Maps

Location intelligence — geocode a place, reverse-geocode coordinates, find nearby places (46 POI categories), driving/walking/cycling distance + time, turn-by-turn directions, timezone lookup, bounding box + area for a named place, and POI search within a rectangle. Uses OpenStreetMap + Overpass + OSRM. Free, no API key.

Skill metadata​

SourceBundled (installed by default)
Pathskills/productivity/maps
Version1.2.0
AuthorMibayy
LicenseMIT
Tagsmaps, geocoding, places, routing, distance, directions, nearby, location, openstreetmap, nominatim, overpass, osrm

Reference: full SKILL.md​

info

The following is the complete skill definition that Hermes loads when this skill is triggered. This is what the agent sees as instructions when the skill is active.

Maps Skill

Location intelligence using free, open data sources. 8 commands, 44 POI categories, zero dependencies (Python stdlib only), no API key required.

Data sources: OpenStreetMap/Nominatim, Overpass API, OSRM, TimeAPI.io.

This skill supersedes the old find-nearby skill — all of find-nearby's functionality is covered by the nearby command below, with the same --near "<place>" shortcut and multi-category support.

When to Use​

  • User sends a Telegram location pin (latitude/longitude in the message) → nearby
  • User wants coordinates for a place name → search
  • User has coordinates and wants the address → reverse
  • User asks for nearby restaurants, hospitals, pharmacies, hotels, etc. → nearby
  • User wants driving/walking/cycling distance or travel time → distance
  • User wants turn-by-turn directions between two places → directions
  • User wants timezone information for a location → timezone
  • User wants to search for POIs within a geographic area → area + bbox

Prerequisites​

Python 3.8+ (stdlib only — no pip installs needed).

Script path: ~/.hermes/skills/maps/scripts/maps_client.py

Commands​

MAPS=~/.hermes/skills/maps/scripts/maps_client.py

search — Geocode a place name​

python3 $MAPS search "Eiffel Tower"
python3 $MAPS search "1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC"

Returns: lat, lon, display name, type, bounding box, importance score.

reverse — Coordinates to address​

python3 $MAPS reverse 48.8584 2.2945

Returns: full address breakdown (street, city, state, country, postcode).

nearby — Find places by category​

# By coordinates (from a Telegram location pin, for example)
python3 $MAPS nearby 48.8584 2.2945 restaurant --limit 10
python3 $MAPS nearby 40.7128 -74.0060 hospital --radius 2000

# By address / city / zip / landmark — --near auto-geocodes
python3 $MAPS nearby --near "Times Square, New York" --category cafe
python3 $MAPS nearby --near "90210" --category pharmacy

# Multiple categories merged into one query
python3 $MAPS nearby --near "downtown austin" --category restaurant --category bar --limit 10

46 categories: restaurant, cafe, bar, hospital, pharmacy, hotel, guest_house, camp_site, supermarket, atm, gas_station, parking, museum, park, school, university, bank, police, fire_station, library, airport, train_station, bus_stop, church, mosque, synagogue, dentist, doctor, cinema, theatre, gym, swimming_pool, post_office, convenience_store, bakery, bookshop, laundry, car_wash, car_rental, bicycle_rental, taxi, veterinary, zoo, playground, stadium, nightclub.

Each result includes: name, address, lat/lon, distance_m, maps_url (clickable Google Maps link), directions_url (Google Maps directions from the search point), and promoted tags when available — cuisine, hours (opening_hours), phone, website.

distance — Travel distance and time​

python3 $MAPS distance "Paris" --to "Lyon"
python3 $MAPS distance "New York" --to "Boston" --mode driving
python3 $MAPS distance "Big Ben" --to "Tower Bridge" --mode walking

Modes: driving (default), walking, cycling. Returns road distance, duration, and straight-line distance for comparison.

directions — Turn-by-turn navigation​

python3 $MAPS directions "Eiffel Tower" --to "Louvre Museum" --mode walking
python3 $MAPS directions "JFK Airport" --to "Times Square" --mode driving

Returns numbered steps with instruction, distance, duration, road name, and maneuver type (turn, depart, arrive, etc.).

timezone — Timezone for coordinates​

python3 $MAPS timezone 48.8584 2.2945
python3 $MAPS timezone 35.6762 139.6503

Returns timezone name, UTC offset, and current local time.

area — Bounding box and area for a place​

python3 $MAPS area "Manhattan, New York"
python3 $MAPS area "London"

Returns bounding box coordinates, width/height in km, and approximate area. Useful as input for the bbox command.

bbox — Search within a bounding box​

python3 $MAPS bbox 40.75 -74.00 40.77 -73.98 restaurant --limit 20

Finds POIs within a geographic rectangle. Use area first to get the bounding box coordinates for a named place.

Working With Telegram Location Pins​

When a user sends a location pin, the message contains latitude: and longitude: fields. Extract those and pass them straight to nearby:

# User sent a pin at 36.17, -115.14 and asked "find cafes nearby"
python3 $MAPS nearby 36.17 -115.14 cafe --radius 1500

Present results as a numbered list with names, distances, and the maps_url field so the user gets a tap-to-open link in chat. For "open now?" questions, check the hours field; if missing or unclear, verify with web_search since OSM hours are community-maintained and not always current.

Workflow Examples​

"Find Italian restaurants near the Colosseum":

  1. nearby --near "Colosseum Rome" --category restaurant --radius 500 — one command, auto-geocoded

"What's near this location pin they sent?":

  1. Extract lat/lon from the Telegram message
  2. nearby LAT LON cafe --radius 1500

"How do I walk from hotel to conference center?":

  1. directions "Hotel Name" --to "Conference Center" --mode walking

"What restaurants are in downtown Seattle?":

  1. area "Downtown Seattle" → get bounding box
  2. bbox S W N E restaurant --limit 30

Pitfalls​

  • Nominatim ToS: max 1 req/s (handled automatically by the script)
  • nearby requires lat/lon OR --near "<address>" — one of the two is needed
  • OSRM routing coverage is best for Europe and North America
  • Overpass API can be slow during peak hours; the script automatically falls back between mirrors (overpass-api.de → overpass.kumi.systems)
  • distance and directions use --to flag for the destination (not positional)
  • If a zip code alone gives ambiguous results globally, include country/state

Verification​

python3 ~/.hermes/skills/maps/scripts/maps_client.py search "Statue of Liberty"
# Should return lat ~40.689, lon ~-74.044

python3 ~/.hermes/skills/maps/scripts/maps_client.py nearby --near "Times Square" --category restaurant --limit 3
# Should return a list of restaurants within ~500m of Times Square