Google Places pages have been entirely replaced by new Google+ Local pages
That should help increase the popularity of Google Plus.
https://searchengineland.com/google-places-is-over-company-makes-google-the-center-of-gravity-for-local-search-122770
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Google Places Is Over, Company Makes Google+ The Center Of Gravity For Local Search
When Google+ and Google+ Pages for business were introduced a little less than a year ago many people in the local search arena began anticipating the day when Google would merge or integrate Google P…