mapbox-geospatial-operations

Expert guidance for AI assistants on choosing the right geospatial tools from the Mapbox MCP Server. Focuses on selecting tools based on what the problem requires - geometric calculations vs routing, straight-line vs road network, and accuracy needs. The Mapbox MCP Server provides two categories of geospatial tools: The key question: What does the problem actually require? User asks: "How far is X from Y?" Example: "What's the distance between these 5 warehouses?" Key insight: Use the tool that matches what "distance" means in context. Always clarify: crow flies or crow drives? User asks: "Which points are near/inside this area?" Example: "Are these 200 addresses in our 30-minute delivery zone?" Key insight: Routing for creating travel-time zones, geometric for containment checks User asks: "What's the best route?" Example: "Navigate from hotel to airport" Key insight: Routing tools for actual navigation, geometric tools for directional info User asks: "Create a zone around this location" Example: "Show 5km coverage around each store" Key insight: Geometric tools for distance-based zones, routing tools for time-based zones Small operations ( 1,000 calculations): Key insight: Volume rarely affects geometric tool choice, but routing APIs have batch tools for efficiency Architecture note for high-frequency geofencing: If the application calls containment checks at very high rates...