The ideas below include suggestions from a share-out with the Wikimedia Design Team:

• Branding: It makes sense to keep it unified as Places (not nearby) since the feature allows searching anywhere and not just places nearby. Renaming the Android feature when bringing it back will also help users understand it’s (literal) greater scope of use. Else a different feature name, “Maps” “ for both apps?
• Connecting maps + lists: Given a list (e.g. Unesco World Heritage monuments”), visualize their items on a map. Highlight in the map those items that are part of one of your lists (a related idea that Google Maps does is to allow people to set an emoji for their lists of places so that they are highlighted in the general map). Also, it makes it easier to add map items to a list.
• Connecting maps + (micro) contributions:
  • E.g. places without a picture. Articles you edited recently (or in your lists) lacking geographic position that can be added.
  • The Commons app has the feature to add an image to a place without a picture and could be used as inspiration.
  • Micro contributions and template support within articles that can increase editor awareness.
• Expand filtering:
  • Explore indications and filtering for Saved, Watched, Open in tab, Search history on the map
  • Add filter what you see on the map, e.g. see articles in X collection.
• Add Places to main Wikipedia search: Could we add places search to the main Wikipedia search and e.g. provide an option to filter directly from there? The current design for namespaces filtering (User: Portal: Help:) at the bottom of the search could be leveraged.
• Color palette: Curious about the color palette used for your Mapbox or the rationale for those – given that Google Maps recently changed their colors (more in line with Apple) +1AA
• Notifications: Use notifications to show the user some special places they are nearby. Not all, so it doesn't flood with notifications, but a few important ones. Maybe as a "travel mode" that you turn on when you go visit a new place, so it's like a tour guide telling you about the history of the places you are near.
• Cultural routes: What about making a cultural route that people can use, almost like Google Maps, to connect a few places (with articles) and give the user a route to follow? See this as a very "touristy" feature.
• Leverage AR/VR: Regarding future possibilities, as some big maps players are already leveraging AR/VR technology, would it be possible to plug-in this data in their existing system rather than building our own?
• Explore feed: How could Places be integrated into the existing Explore feed card stack? What brings added value?
• Space: It would be neat to see articles in space/solar system