Google is doing some major spring cleaning this week with Google+ features. First went automatic hashtagging, then Google+ Local and now the Nearby stream. In return though, we did get treated to Collections.
The Nearby stream did what it said on the tin, giving you a stream of posts from people and businesses around your location. It was pretty neat some of the time, and wildly inaccurate the rest of the time. So why did Google choose to get rid? Streamlining is the best bet, and it could be the fact that not enough are sharing enough for the feature to be warranted.
The button's removal is being done in stages server-side. Some users reported the removal of a few days ago, while I still had the feature up until last night. So if you're still seeing it, make the most of it!
Did you use the Nearby stream?