The little orange guy in Google Maps as most people know is the character you see in the Street Views function. The recent update to the Google Maps service definitely puts greater emphasis on this.

For example:

The Street Views icon (i.e. the orange guy) is now directly on top of the zoom slider…

…and yes it’s functional.

While zoomed in on a map you can click the orange guy, drag and drop and you’ll get the Street View. While dragging a thumbnail appears before you drop (nice touch).

Where’s the "Street Views" button?

Gone. You have to know to click on the orange guy above the zoom slider now. Yes that’s one step backwards usability-wise. However, being the orange-guy icon is so obvious it shouldn’t be a big deal for most people to find it.