Google Maps Functionality Regresses with Latest Update
February 14, 2014
Some folks are unhappy that the most recent update to Google Maps eliminates one of its handiest features, the “search nearby” tool. A poster at Slashdot going by BillCable points out this downgrade in “Google Removes ‘Search Nearby’ Function from Updated Google Maps.” The post elaborates:
“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.”
Well, this is Google we’re talking about; ads come first, search second. I agree with the post’s stance that the “solution” offered by Google’s forum keeper, that users perform an old-school search like “tacos near mountain view,” is laughable. BillCable points out that, for now, one can revert to the old version of Maps. However, as any longstanding Gmail user knows, that option could be snatched away at any time. Ah, well. User preferences only count for so much when the users are not the customers, but the deliverables.
Cynthia Murrell, February 14, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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