Ordnance Survey National Geographic Database MCP server

The Ordnance Survey MCP server lets you access UK geospatial data through Ordnance Survey APIs directly from LLMs. You can ask simple questions like "find all cinemas in Leeds City Centre" or use prompt templates for complex use cases related to road networks, street works, and planning.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Before using the MCP server, you'll need to obtain an Ordnance Survey API key:

1. Register at OS Data Hub
2. Create a project and get your free API key

Installation with Docker

The recommended way to install and run the OS MCP server is using Docker, which makes it easy to add to your Claude Desktop configuration.

Clone the Repository

First, clone the repository to your local machine:

git clone https://github.com/your-username/os-mcp-server.git
cd os-mcp-server

Build the Docker Image

Build the Docker image from the repository:

docker build -t os-mcp-server .

Configure Claude Desktop

Add the MCP server to your Claude Desktop configuration by adding the following JSON:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "os-mcp-server": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--rm",
        "-i",
        "-e",
        "OS_API_KEY=your_api_key_here",
        "-e",
        "STDIO_KEY=any_value",
        "os-mcp-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Be sure to replace your_api_key_here with your actual Ordnance Survey API key.

Using the MCP Server

After configuring Claude Desktop, restart the application. The OS MCP server should appear in the available tools list.

Basic Usage

You can ask simple geographical questions about UK locations:

• Find all cinemas in Leeds City Centre
• Show me parks within 2 miles of Oxford
• What restaurants are near the Manchester town hall?

Advanced Usage with Templates

The server provides prompt templates for more complex use cases:

1. Road Networks: Query information about roads, highways, and transportation infrastructure
2. Street Works: Access data related to roadworks and street maintenance
3. Planning: Find planning-related geographical information

Two-Step Workflow

The MCP server enforces a two-step workflow to ensure optimal results:

1. Planning Phase: The server first creates a plan for retrieving the requested information
2. Execution Phase: Then it executes the plan to deliver the results

This approach ensures that you get the most accurate and relevant geospatial data for your queries.

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "os-mcp-server" '{"command":"docker","args":["run","--rm","-i","-e","STDIO_KEY=your-key-here","-e","OS_API_KEY=ADD_KEY","os-mcp-server"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "os-mcp-server": {
            "command": "docker",
            "args": [
                "run",
                "--rm",
                "-i",
                "-e",
                "STDIO_KEY=your-key-here",
                "-e",
                "OS_API_KEY=ADD_KEY",
                "os-mcp-server"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "os-mcp-server": {
            "command": "docker",
            "args": [
                "run",
                "--rm",
                "-i",
                "-e",
                "STDIO_KEY=your-key-here",
                "-e",
                "OS_API_KEY=ADD_KEY",
                "os-mcp-server"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect