Google Maps has added additional local landmarks and "prominent" businesses right on top of any map area a user is browsing. Just like any other points of interest, you can click on any of these to get the a summary, which includes things like related Web sites, phone numbers, hours of operation, photos, and user reviews.
In Google Earth (Google's globe software) this layer of information is something you can turn on and off, however for Maps, Google has decided simply to bake it in. It's definitely a logical next step, considering Google recently added nearby businesses on top of the results of a user's original search. This made it far easier to discover a local business, even if it wasn't at the top of Google's index.
Purists may find that all the extra points of interest may clutter things up. Although to combat this, the number of on-screen items increases with the zoom level, meaning that most of the time, you're only seeing landmarks.
One thing to note is that the new mapping tiles do not yet appear on mobile devices like the Google Maps apps for iPhone and Android. We've pinged Google to see if the new tiles are headed there anytime soon.
This article was first published as a blog post on CNET News.
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