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Google Removes "Search Nearby" Function From Updated Google Maps

Posted by timothy on from the where-are-you-again? dept.

First time accepted submitter BillCable writes "One of the most useful and intuitive features of Google's Map tool was the "Search nearby" link. After searching for a location, users could click on a marker on the map to pop open a window with the address and other details. This window also contained a link to 'Search nearby' — extremely useful if you want to find a list of restaurants near a hotel, the closest pharmacy, or any other business you might want to patronize. Google recently updated their map tool, and 'Search nearby' is no longer present. The 300 posts to the Google Product Forums complaining about this omission indicates this is a feature Maps users sorely miss. Google's work-around (detailed by Google staff in said thread) are a poor substitute and unreliable. There is no indication Google will add the feature to their new tool. For now users are able to revert to the original Google Maps with the 'Search nearby' feature intact. But there's concern that when Google discontinues support that the feature will be lost. So why would Google remove one of its best features?"

5 of 255 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Simple by tripleevenfall · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yahoo is dead as fried chicken.

    I don't know why Google would remove this feature, but you can be sure it probably has something to do with their strategy to shove everyone over to Google+ at gunpoint

  2. Re: click-throughs by CrowdedBrainzzzsand9 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Google has better control of ads if they decide what you want to find.

  3. Re: click-throughs by TWX · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ding Ding Ding, we have a winner!

    And now we're starting to get into the "you're the product" stage of Google. Google Shopping now is a pay-for-inclusion system, and soon Maps may head that direction.

    I guess that the $64,000 question is how far will it go before either Google stops pushing it, or before they find that they have competitor that outperforms them and resists a purchase attempt...

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  4. It ALWAYS already worked without it. by brunes69 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When you have an already loaded map / search, and you enter a new search, it already does a "search nearby".

    IE, if I go into Google maps and search for "Times Square, New York, NY", it shows me Times Square. If I then type in "Pizza", it will find all the pizza places AROUND TIMES SQUARE, IE the ones inside whatever window I have open. This is the way Google Maps has always behaved, it is nice an intuitive, and does not need clicking weird extra buttons. It just plain does what you expect it to do without asking.

  5. Re:Simple by Chalnoth · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not really. The new maps is basically built around this feature. This seems to me to be a case of people not understanding that "search nearby" is effectively the default Google Maps behavior in the new version. It only moves the map if it doesn't find nearby results, or if the search query is a specific location elsewhere.

    Try it yourself. Using the new maps, zoom in on a location with a number of restaurants, and type "restaurants" in the search box.