Google has integrated part of the Explore feature of Google Maps into its core web search. It recently came to desktop Google Search results after arriving first on mobile devices, where the Explore feature made its debut in 2013 as part of Google Maps.
The carousel-style widget appears under the heading “Discover more places” and showcases eight or nine categories of places that are relevant to your search. For example, when I search for “fried chicken,” the new feature in search results displays photos and names of restaurants under the categories “Best spots for lunch with kids,” “Chicken and waffles,” “Chicken restaurants,” “American restaurants,” and so on.
Clicking on one of these on desktop takes you to a Google Maps-like interface showing the places in a column on the left and on a big map on the right — from there you can select individual places to see more detail. But these pages are located at URLs that begin with https://www.google.com/search, as opposed to https://www.google.com/maps. On the mobile web after tapping one of the categories, you see a stack of cards of places, along…