Since April, Google has been testing a local pack in the search results that auto-expands the map section when you hover your mouse cursor over it. This now seems to be live or rolling out fully.

I can replicate it myself and so can Mike Blumenthal, Robert Spinrad and others I asked privately.

Here is what it looks like:

First time seeing the Map on the desktop taking over the screen of the 3 Pack. Before when the panel popped up the list was still visible. Now the Map is allowing a user to select the area they want to explore. Is this new? pic.twitter.com/IEw7elamm9

— Mike Blumenthal (@mblumenthal) August 23, 2023

I was just about to post one of those ‘Is this new?’ Tweets for @rustybrick when I saw @mblumenthal already beat me to it 🙃 So… is this new? pic.twitter.com/yIwcluDyWN

— Robert Spinrad (@robertlspinrad) August 23, 2023

I am not sure if I like it, I prefer to click an icon to expand it manually but hey, Google tested it for a while and decided to roll it out – so they must like how it is performing…

Forum discussion at Twitter.