Tom and John,
The article goes a little beyond just using the address bar for search and then clicking to drill down to what you really want. Yeah, it's kinda geeky, but there's a smidgen of value in it, especially for anyone needing to quickly bring up a map while on the move.
I took the article and ran with it a bit.
Heres how you can set it up to immediately display a driving directions map from your current location to whatever destination you enter.
Start by following the article's instructions to create a new search engine. I named it "Google Directions from here". Then:
1. Set the "keyword". I used "mapto".
2. Use this as the "URL with %s in place of query"
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/?api=1&origin=&destination=%s&travelmode=driving
3. Save
Now if you type "mapto Grand Canyon" into the address bar a full map and driving directions to Grand Canyon from your current location pops up without any more clicks.
Of course, you could also use the voice command: "OK Google, show me driving directions to Grand Canyon" but this is another, quieter option.