How do you constrain a search in Maps.app that could have hits anywhere? Like 'burger restaurant'?
I live in Chapel Hill, and I want to see all burger joints in the Triangle, so I size my Maps window to enclose Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh. Then in the search box I type 'burger restaurants'. The display drops red pins around Chapel Hill, a few around Durham, and none at all around Raleigh. To see Raleigh burgers, I have to jigger the display around so Raleigh is more centered, and Chapel Hill and Durham are out of view.
Google Maps simply assumes you're interested in all locations viewable within the current window. It's such a natural way I assumed Apple would do the same thing, but apparently not.
Best Answer
It’s simply a limitation of Apple Maps.
To find places around a certain area, Apple touts the “Nearby” feature supposedly which allows you to find points if interest nearby your current location. If I search “pizza near research triangle park, nc” it gave me pizza places near the closest city center to me - downtown Fort Lauderdale, FL.
I tend to use Bing Maps as my preferred tool followed by Google. I did the same search in Bing and the search area was as you described - bounded by the visible area in the window. If I zoomed or panned the map, the results adjusted accordingly.
I have found that 3rd party apps “force” Google maps regardless of what you want as your default - I suspect it’s to ensure a consistent and rich user experience.
While I’d love to recommend the native tool, I can’t. I'd use the tool that meets your needs.