Can ChatGPT Use Google Maps? Links, Lists and Fixes

ChatGPT can't use Google Maps directly. It has no connection to the Maps app or your Google account, so it can't open a list, read your saved places or drop pins for you, and the Google Maps links it writes are often made up and lead nowhere. What works is asking for each place's exact name and address, or for links in Google's documented search format, and then checking each one in Google Maps yourself.

Here's what ChatGPT can do with maps today, why its links break, and how to move places between the two in either direction.

What can ChatGPT do with maps?

More than it used to, but none of it runs through your Google Maps. OpenAI's help page on searching the web with ChatGPT, checked on November 2, 2026, says ChatGPT can use your approximate location to find local results such as restaurants, and that on iOS and Android "relevant results may also include a map." On eligible plans it can also look up reservation times from OpenTable, Resy or Yelp.

OpenAI doesn't say which map service draws those in-chat maps. The same help page names Microsoft and Shopify as search partners and says local results can draw on "trusted third-party providers," but it doesn't mention Google.

Why ChatGPT's Google Maps links don't work

There are six common causes, and the first two account for most broken links.

1. The link was invented. A short link like maps.app.goo.gl/... is a random code that Google creates when someone shares a place. ChatGPT can't look one up, so when it writes one, it's guessing. We opened two made-up links in that format on November 2, 2026, and both returned a 404 page that says "Dynamic Link Not Found."
2. The place ID or coordinates are wrong. Full place links carry an ID and coordinates from Google's database. A model writing them from memory can produce an ID that matches nothing, or coordinates a few streets away, so the pin lands in the wrong spot.
3. The format is broken. Google's Maps URLs documentation says every link needs api=1, and without it Google Maps ignores the rest of the link and simply opens the map. Spaces and commas also have to be encoded.
4. The place isn't there. ChatGPT sometimes names restaurants that have closed or never existed, a problem our guide to where ChatGPT falls short as a trip planner covers in detail. A well-formed link to a missing place still fails.
5. It won't write a link at all. Users on r/ChatGPT reported earlier in 2026 that it suddenly stopped giving clickable Google Maps links and offered to list addresses instead. What it does can change with the model you're using.
6. The link isn't clickable. On OpenAI's developer forum, users have reported links that appear as plain text. Copying the address into your browser gets around it.

How to get Google Maps links that work

Ask for links that Google Maps can resolve on its own: a search for the place's name and address. When you want one specific place, Google's documentation recommends this format: https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=PLACE_NAME,ADDRESS. Even when the address is slightly off, Google Maps searches the name and usually lands on the right place.

1. Ask for names and full addresses first. Have ChatGPT list each place with its street address and city, and say which ones it's unsure about.
2. Then ask for search links in Google's format. Use a prompt like the one below.
3. Open every link on your phone. Check that the name, photos and location match what you expected. If a place doesn't appear, or Google Maps marks it as closed, drop it.
4. Save the ones that pass. On the place card, tap Save and choose a list for the trip.

For each place, give the exact name, street address and city. Then give a Google Maps link in this format only: https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query= followed by the name and address, URL-encoded. Don't use maps.app.goo.gl links, place IDs or coordinates. Mark any place you're not sure still exists.

For a day's route, ask for a directions link instead, in the form https://www.google.com/maps/dir/?api=1&origin=...&destination=...&waypoints=...&travelmode=walking, with the stops in between separated by a pipe character. Google says these links support up to nine waypoints, but only three when the link opens in a mobile browser, so keep each link to a handful of stops.

More prompts that keep answers checkable are in our list of ChatGPT prompts for travel planning.

How to put ChatGPT's places on a map

For a short list, save each place to a Google Maps list as you check it. For 15 places or more, a spreadsheet and Google My Maps are faster:

1. Ask for a table with columns for Name, Address, City, Day and Notes. Download it as a CSV file if ChatGPT offers one, or paste the table into Google Sheets.
2. Create a map in My Maps on a computer, click Import under the first layer and pick the file.
3. Choose the location columns (Address, or Name and City) and Name as the title.
4. Check every pin. My Maps places each row by searching for it, so a vague name can land on a same-named place in another town.

Our guide to importing a file into Google My Maps covers layers per day and opening the map on your phone.

One thing to avoid: asking ChatGPT for a KML file with coordinates. It would have to supply the latitude and longitude of every place from memory, which is exactly where pins go wrong. A name and address lets My Maps do the lookup.

How to share a Google Maps list with ChatGPT

Give it the names, not the link. A shared list opens a page that Google Maps builds in your browser, and ChatGPT may not be able to read it. If it replies with places that aren't on your list, it's guessing.

For a short list: copy the names

Open the list in Google Maps on a computer, copy the place names with the city, and paste them into ChatGPT with your dates and where you're staying. A 20-place list takes a few minutes. The list's link is still the right thing to send your travel companions, and our guide to sharing a Google Maps list covers view-only links and inviting editors.

For a long list: upload the Takeout file

1. Go to takeout.google.com, click Deselect all, check Saved and create the export.
2. Download and unzip it. Each list is a CSV file with each place's name, your notes and a Google Maps link, but no coordinates.
3. Upload the CSV to ChatGPT. OpenAI's file upload page lists CSV as supported and says Free accounts can upload three files a day.

Our guide to exporting a Google Maps list walks through Takeout in more detail. Then tell ChatGPT what to do with the places:

Here are the places from my Google Maps list for Lisbon: 4 days in May, staying in Chiado. Group them into days by neighborhood. Use only places from this list, and label anything you add as an addition. Flag places that usually need booking or close one day a week, and say when you're unsure.

Before you commit, check the hours and travel times in Google Maps. Our checklist for fact-checking an AI itinerary takes about 10 minutes.

Is there a Google Maps plugin or connector for ChatGPT?

Not one from Google or OpenAI for everyday users. ChatGPT now groups its integrations under Settings > Plugins, and OpenAI's connected apps page names services like Google Drive, Slack and Notion, but not Google Maps. What exists is built for developers:

• Google's own server. Google Maps Platform offers Maps Experience agent tools (formerly Maps Grounding Lite), an MCP server that lets an AI tool search places, compute routes and check the weather. It needs a Google Cloud project with billing, and Google's terms say not to use it with models that train on the data sent to them.
• Third-party connectors. Composio offers a Google Maps toolkit that it says can be added to ChatGPT through its plugin, and Pipedream offers a similar connector to developers building their own agents. Between them, their tool lists cover place search and details, geocoding and routes.

None of these sign in to your personal Google Maps, so none can read your saved lists or add to them. They can help with questions like "what's open near this hotel," but for a trip plan, the copy-and-check method above gets you most of the way with no setup.

If you'd rather stay with Google, its own tools sit on Google Maps data: Ask Maps runs inside the Maps app, and our guide to planning a trip with Gemini covers what Gemini adds.

Where Vidtrip fits

Vidtrip, the tool we make, isn't a ChatGPT add-on, and it only works from a public YouTube travel video with captions. If your plan starts from a video, it does the map step for you: it looks every stop up on Google Maps, so each one has a rating, opening hours and a link to the real place, and it pins the stops on a map with each day as a route you can open in Google Maps or Apple Maps.

Paste a YouTube link, answer four questions about your trip and pay $4.99 once, and the plan is ready in about a minute; if the video can't be planned from, for example because it has no captions, the payment is refunded automatically. You can open our Lisbon example plan for free first to see those links in place, or start with your own video.