When I updated Maps and found out the latest version requires Play Services to start, I just went to apkmirror and grabbed random old version. Or maybe I grabbed one I had in Titanium Backup backups - I don't remember precisely.
I actually didn't know what you were talking about until I opened the app few seconds ago. I was just tapping the search bar as soon as the app started every time, and did not even notice something was appearing on my screen. But I agree, now that I looked at this panel, it does seem useless.
Oh I see. Yeah I recommend going back to that version if you don't have a particular reason to stick with the later one. Or maybe to 9.50.1 if you want the ability to add Favorites and Want To Go (as opposed to just Starred Locations). The later versions have way too much crap in them -- over fifty (!) notifications (and redundant ones at that, I'm guessing because people kept turning off the old ones) as of the latest version I tried, with the screen constantly trying to get you to look at it and tap stuff. They're trying to get your attention all the time like they're Facebook or something. They can't just show you a darn map and navigate you anymore. (Though even these versions aren't great, but they're usable.) They made the changes rather gradually though (sometimes even the same version behaves differently depending on whether you upgraded or not) so I'm guessing that's why you didn't notice.
I actually didn't know what you were talking about until I opened the app few seconds ago. I was just tapping the search bar as soon as the app started every time, and did not even notice something was appearing on my screen. But I agree, now that I looked at this panel, it does seem useless.