Google + Local app is considered as an important and helpful tool for local marketing. That is because the app helps iPhone and iPad users enjoy special and customized features. First, the app enables checking out feedbacks from Google connections about local businesses. Second, it provides reviews of businesses that were patronized as well as the places they have gone to.
As a social network feature, Google + Local app facilitates sharing of information about local venues and businesses that users have found online. There is easier and quick access to online local information where available. Lastly, the app enables users to perform specific searches by category covering local businesses like cafés and restaurants.Google+ Local for iOS, Google’s mobile search and discovery app, will cease to exist on August 7th, just over one year after it made its appearance on iPads and iPhones.
According to an email from the Mountview company, Google+ Local for iOS will no longer be available as a standalone app on mobile Apple devices. However, of the app’s entire functionality will be merged into the Explore feature in Google Maps.
As mentioned, most of the ideal features of Google + Local app for iOS would be integrated into Google Maps for iOS. Thus, the useful features would not be completely gone for Google customers. First, Google Maps would now enable search for places and businesses by category, making it easier to find coffee shops and restaurants in an area.
Second, Google Maps would now provide more information about places and businesses in a locality. There would be reviews, addresses, street views, and average price estimates. Third, the app would monitor feedback from Google + circles about places and establishments in a locality.
Google+ Local for iOS, formerly known as Google Places, lets users voice search for nearby restaurants, check Zagat restaurant ratings, and read and post reviews of local establishments. The app was itself a rebranded version of Google Places.
According to the email, all user reviews and ratings will remain accessible via Google Maps and one’s Google+ profile. Users would also be allowed to review and then rate places and establishments where users have been to. Lastly, there would be a feature to share locations. It goes without directly saying that Google + Local app would continue to live on but under the ‘Explore on Maps.’
And because ratings and reviews features would be preserved on Google + profiles, the death of the app may not be completely felt. Anyone looking for a good night out in an unfamiliar locality could still turn to other designated Google apps. However, as far as we can tell, the app has already been removed from Apple’s iTunes App Store, and links pointing to the app, when clicked, provide the message that “the item you’ve requested is not currently available in the U.S. store.” However, the actual link to the app from a Google Search result or other webpage is currently broken. In addition, a search inside the iOS App Store for all Google apps shows that the app is no longer available there. (Though we did spot what appears to be a beta test of something calledGoogle Coordinate. Oops, that’s an enterprise product. We knew that.)
Google+ Local for iOS isn’t the first location-oriented service that Google has phased out as it revamps its mapping and local search offerings. Two weeks ago the company stated that Latitude, its map se-based location-sharingrvice,would retire on uAgust 9th.
Earlier this year Google initiated a sizable overhaul of its Maps application, which included enhanced navigation, live traffic updates, the new Explore feature, and on the Apple front, improved visuals on the iPad. Last June the company acquired Waze, the Israeli social traffic and navigation app, for over $1 billion.
