aria-mcp-drivetime-dk

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that computes car driving time and distance between two places in Denmark, plus a "leave by" time for appointments. Built for ARIA and shareable with the community.

Fully keyless — uses public OpenStreetMap services with no API key required.

Example output ARIA might give Kim:

Horsens → Billund Lufthavn er ~48 min (67 km) — kør senest 11:02 for at nå 12:00 (inkl. 10 min buffer)

Data Sources

Source	What	Policy / Attribution
Nominatim	Geocoding — place name → lat/lon	© OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Usage policy: max 1 req/s, descriptive User-Agent required
OSRM demo server	Road routing — distance + duration	© OpenStreetMap contributors. Demo server: ~1 req/s, non-commercial use only

No live traffic. Duration is typical free-flow routing time. For production or traffic-aware routing, self-host OSRM or use a paid provider (e.g. Google Maps Routes API, HERE, Mapbox).

Install & Run

npx aria-mcp-drivetime-dk

Or install globally:

npm install -g aria-mcp-drivetime-dk
aria-mcp-drivetime-dk

Requires Node.js 20 or later.

Tools

drive_time

Compute car driving distance and typical travel time between two Danish places.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
from	string	Yes*	Origin — place name, address, or "lat,lon"
to	string	Yes	Destination — place name, address, or "lat,lon"
arriveBy	string	No	Arrival time — ISO datetime ("2026-06-12T12:00") or "HH:MM" for today (Copenhagen time)
bufferMin	number	No	Extra buffer minutes for leave-by (default DEFAULT_BUFFER_MIN, typically 10)

*Not required when DEFAULT_ORIGIN env var is set.

Returns:

{
  "fromResolved": "Horsens, Horsens Kommune, Region Midtjylland, Danmark",
  "toResolved": "Billund Lufthavn, ...",
  "distanceKm": 67.4,
  "durationMin": 48,
  "leaveByLocal": "2026-06-12T11:02",
  "arriveByLocal": "2026-06-12T12:00",
  "bufferMin": 10,
  "notice": "Duration is typical/free-flow driving time from OSRM routing — does NOT include live traffic. Allow extra time during rush hours or adverse weather."
}

leaveByLocal, arriveByLocal, and bufferMin are only present when arriveBy is given.

---

geocode

Resolve a Danish place name or address to geographic coordinates.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
query	string	Yes	Place name or address to look up

Returns:

{
  "lat": 55.8607,
  "lon": 9.8502,
  "displayName": "Horsens, Horsens Kommune, Region Midtjylland, Danmark"
}

---

leave_by

Convenience wrapper — same as drive_time but requires arriveBy explicitly and is named to signal intent.

Parameters: from (optional with default), to, arriveBy (required), bufferMin (optional)

Returns: Same as drive_time with arriveBy — always includes leaveByLocal.

---

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
DEFAULT_ORIGIN	(none)	Default origin place (e.g. "Horsens"). Makes from optional in drive_time and leave_by.
DEFAULT_BUFFER_MIN	10	Buffer minutes subtracted when computing leaveByLocal.
NOMINATIM_URL	https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org	Override Nominatim base URL (for self-hosting).
OSRM_URL	https://router.project-osrm.org	Override OSRM base URL (for self-hosting or a traffic-aware provider).

ARIA MCP Config

Add to your ARIA credentials / MCP config to use with ARIA:

{
  "command": "npx",
  "args": ["-y", "aria-mcp-drivetime-dk"],
  "env": {
    "DEFAULT_ORIGIN": "Horsens"
  }
}

With this config, from defaults to Horsens in all tools. Kim can ask ARIA "Hvornår skal jeg køre for at nå Billund Lufthavn til 12:00?" without specifying an origin.

Important Caveats

• No live traffic. OSRM demo server provides free-flow routing only. Actual travel time may differ significantly during rush hours, holidays, road works, or bad weather.
• Demo server limits. The public Nominatim and OSRM demo servers are rate-limited (~1 req/s) and intended for light, non-commercial use. For production workloads, self-host or use a commercial routing API.
• Self-hosting. Set NOMINATIM_URL and OSRM_URL environment variables to point at your own instances.

Development

git clone https://github.com/kimhjort/aria-mcp-drivetime-dk
cd aria-mcp-drivetime-dk
npm install
npm run build
npm test

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed under the Open Database Licence (ODbL).