Build your own Google Maps with Claude Code

A maps and directions app: search places on a map, directions by car, foot and bike, save favourite places and more.

1–2 weeksMore screens, accounts and a backend

The Claude Code prompt

Build my own take on Google Maps: a maps and directions app. Give it an original name, logo, colours and copy, and do not use Google Maps's name, branding or assets.

Version one should have:
- Search places on a map
- Directions by car, foot and bike
- Save favourite places
- Place pages with reviews
- Share a location

The hard part: Map data and routing. Use Mapbox or MapLibre with OpenStreetMap and a routing API.

How to build it:
1. Read this folder first. If it is empty, set up Next.js (App Router, TypeScript, Tailwind) with Postgres through Prisma or Supabase, and Supabase Auth or Auth.js for sign-in. Write a short PLAN.md with the data model, screens, third-party services and what you are leaving out of version one.
2. Build the core loop end to end before anything else: search places on a map, working with real data saved to the database.
3. Add the rest of the features one at a time, and seed realistic demo data so every screen looks alive.
4. Keep API keys in environment variables, and put any paid service behind a small interface with a local stub, so the app runs on a fresh machine without accounts.
5. Run it, click through every screen on desktop and mobile widths, fix what breaks, and finish with a summary of what works, what is stubbed and how to deploy it.

Paste it into Claude Code in an empty folder. It plans first, so read PLAN.md and steer before it starts building.

Version one

  • Search places on a map
  • Directions by car, foot and bike
  • Save favourite places
  • Place pages with reviews
  • Share a location

The hard part

Map data and routing. Use Mapbox or MapLibre with OpenStreetMap and a routing API.

Make it yours: a niche Google Maps ignores, an original name and brand, and one feature it does badly done well.

More to build

More in Maps & travel · Every build idea