You can cache the current map area that you're looking at by searching for 'OK Maps'. [1]
[1] - http://googleblog.blogspot.in/2013/07/a-new-google-maps-app-...
[1] - http://googleblog.blogspot.in/2013/07/a-new-google-maps-app-...
"Instead we’ve created a new way for you to access maps offline by simply entering “OK Maps” into the search box when viewing the area you want for later."
err.. Simply?
My wild guess it's targeting voice commanding, which I practically never use as voice recognition is still not reliable enough (and I'm not always comfortable with shouting at my phone in public).
If not, then this is a pretty terrible unintuitive way to access a very useful feature. I'm not sure how anyone would even know it exists if they hadn't read about it in one of these posts.