I don't really understand what the search nearby places button is doing. I think the solution would be to allow some sort of OR operator (which seems straightforward), or conditions the act on generic queries (which seems more difficult). For example say you live in NYC and want some nice green space near you. Choosing a single park is too narrow and choosing all parks is too broad. So you should be able to say e.g. "Central Park OR Prospect Park OR Brooklyn Bridge Park OR Fort Greene Park", or you should be able to say "Park, > 10 acres, 4+ star google rating, has tennis court, has bike path"... the point is that not all parks, grocery stores, coffee shops, etc are equal; I need to be able to qualify them somehow.
The second one (acrage, stars, etc) is harder, you're right.
The "Search nearby places" is really meant to be a convenience feature to fill your OR clauses. It works better for certain types of things. Like, sure, all parks is too broad because not all parks are equal. But use it for something like all Targets (the shopping chain) or something, and its more useful, since those are, more or less, all equal.
I'm still thinking of other convenience features for places that have more nuance, like parks.
