search categories in google maps

htbyron

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This worked yesterday but not today -- I can't figure out what's going on!

When you are in Google Maps and hit the menu button, one option is search. As of a couple versions ago, if you select that search option (instead of hitting the search button), you get a list of categories, such as restaurants, gas stations, hotels, etc. Selecting a category lets you choose a subcategory in some cases, then you get a bunch of buttons on the map showing stff that's nearby, and you can choose the list/text option in the lower left corner to give you a list of the search results in that category on your current map (or maybe it's based on a distance from your current location). It worked for me yesterday when I was on travel in Cincinnati, but today (I am back home), choosing the search option from the menu just brings up the search box at the top and the on-screen keyboard, the same as hitting the search button. That's not what I'm looking for (no pun intended)! This is a major feature for me, and I can't figure out where it went.

Maybe relatedly, I just opened the Places Directory app and got the error message that it could not connect to the server, so maybe there's something wrong on Google's end.

Is anybody else experiencing this? I will do a battery pull to see if that helps, but I'm not optimistic.
 
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htbyron

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Feb 4, 2010
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Arlington, VA
Never mind -- found it. Popular Categories is an option in the Labs settings. Apparently all my labs preferences got reset (turned off) somehow. I went in and reactivated it, and now I have the categories again. Places is still not working, though.
 
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