Probably, they get more ad revenue from: - you doing a manual search, and being tracked/targeted - them displaying ads as a result - them displaying contextual

Probably, they get more ad revenue from: - you doing a manual search, and being tracked/targeted - them displaying ads as a result - them displaying contextual, higher paying ads I've noticed that some things over the years, many things in fact, have been removed from Google Maps. I hypothesize that the entire reason is, these things reduce profit. For example, you used to be able to pause Google Maps. You can't now, and therefore, if you have 'history' off, you have to stop, and manually re-start your destination by typing it in. Well, history profits them. And pausing is not the best, because then, you're not active 100% of the trip. Having you active lets them determine all sorts of things, like traffic patterns, where you go, who you're near, and so on. There are lots of little things like this, which seem to be gone from earlier versions of Maps. Again, I presume, all to make more $. Which is logical, and fine, but it gets a bit tiresome and sad at times.