Google+ Local was announced in May 2012 (that's pre-Google Plus Daily by the way) to help find recommended places from the people in your circles (and others too), and brought with it "one simple experience across Google".
But as of today, Google+ Local is going away, or at least the long-redundant landing page on the Google+ website. It was spruced up as part of a complete overhaul of the platform at Google I/O 2013, but after that, development slowed to a crawl, and then to a complete standstill. Ever since then, I've been wondering when the feature was getting the axe.
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| Local has left Home |
The removal of the shortcut is to streamline the Google+ experience, according to +Google Local Guides. The page reassures that the Reviews tab on your profile, along with all your reviews and ratings are all sticking around. If you used to review local places from the comfort of Google+ on the web, you can continue to rate businesses using Google Maps on the web and mobile, as well as Google.com.
It's refreshing to see Google giving lots of love to Google+ again, with today's massive Collections announcement and the streamlining of the website, it looks like we're in for an exciting few months as updates pick up steam again.
Source: Local Guides on Google+