mapq

mapq — Apple Maps Query

Query Apple Maps for nearby places and get driving/walking/transit directions with estimated travel time.

When to Use

✅ USE this skill when:

• User asks how far they are from a place ("How far is the nearest Walgreens?")
• User asks for travel time to a destination ("How long to drive to Costco?")
• Finding nearby businesses, restaurants, gas stations, etc.
• Comparing distances to multiple locations of the same type
• Getting walking or transit time estimates

When NOT to Use

❌ DON'T use this skill when:

• User wants to navigate (open Apple Maps instead: open "maps://?daddr=ADDRESS")
• Looking up a specific address without distance/time context
• Weather, traffic conditions, or road closures (use weather skill)
• International routing with complex border crossings

Workflow

1. Get Current Location

If the user's message contains GPS coordinates (e.g., [GPS: 38.57, -121.39]), extract the latitude and longitude directly from the message. This happens when the user sends from a mobile device via an Apple Shortcut that prepends their iPhone GPS location.

Otherwise, get the Mac's location:

LOC=$(corelocationcli --json)
LAT=$(echo "$LOC" | jq -r .latitude)
LON=$(echo "$LOC" | jq -r .longitude)

2. Query Apple Maps

# Find nearest Walgreens by car (default)
mapq --lat "$LAT" --lon "$LON" --query "Walgreens"

# Find nearest coffee shops within walking distance
mapq --lat "$LAT" --lon "$LON" --query "coffee" --transport walking

# Find top 5 nearest gas stations
mapq --lat "$LAT" --lon "$LON" --query "gas station" --count 5

# Transit directions
mapq --lat "$LAT" --lon "$LON" --query "airport" --transport transit

3. Interpret Results

The output is JSON with a results array. Each result includes:

• name — Business name
• address — Full street address
• route_miles — Actual driving/walking distance
• travel_minutes — Estimated travel time
• text_summary — Human-readable summary (e.g., "2.7 mi, 9 min by car")
• phone — Phone number if available
• url — Website URL if available

Transport Types

• automobile (default) — Driving directions with traffic-aware estimates
• walking — Walking directions and time
• transit — Public transit directions (availability varies by city)

Example Conversation

User: "How far am I from the nearest Walgreens?"

1. Get location with corelocationcli --json
2. Run mapq --lat LAT --lon LON --query "Walgreens" --count 1
3. Read text_summary from first result
4. Reply: "The nearest Walgreens is at 3400 Arden Way — about 2.7 miles away, roughly 9 minutes by car."

User: "What about walking?"

1. Same location, run mapq --lat LAT --lon LON --query "Walgreens" --count 1 --transport walking
2. Reply with walking time estimate

Error Handling

• If mapq exits non-zero, check stderr for the error
• Common errors: "No results found" (try a different query), network timeout
• If corelocationcli fails, ask the user for their address and geocode it

Safety Rules

1. Never share exact GPS coordinates with the user — use addresses instead
2. Do not open Maps.app unless the user explicitly asks for navigation
3. Round travel times to the nearest minute for conversational responses