Why isn't the scale on Google Maps detachable? (opens in new tab)

Because the correct feature would be a line tool that tells you the distance between two points. You can actually use gmaps-pedometer to do this (set it to straight line mode): http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/ , it'll also show you an elevation graph.

For most road trips, the proper tool is to plan a route, which takes into account the curves of actual roads.

There's a gadget to measure the distance between two points in the Google Maps Directory. Works as advertised, and is also more precise than the bar scale.

http://maps.google.com/gadgets/directory?synd=mpl&url=ht...

I'm sure there a millions of little things Google hasn't thought of.

I wish they would tell me how old someone is when their birthday pops up on my calendar. Or how long a couple has been married when their anniversary pops up.

There's no need for a detachable scale. If you need the distance between two points right click and select 'distance from here' and then 'distance to here' for the destination point. Plus it measure the actual distance on road (car or walking or public transport), while the scale can only be used for air distance - which is shorter than the real distance of travel.

I actually really like this idea. When I was a Geology major, we measured distances on topographic maps using the map's bar scale. I think many people, especially older people, think to measure distances on maps this way. It just seems more natural.

Would it scale itself based on the latitude you dropped it at? Could you rotate it, and would it still be the correct scale? Does it display the length of the straight line segment that you placed, or the shortest path between the endpoints (Great Arc)?

I suspect that features are only added for the 80% case (ie, 80% of users would use it). There is too long a list of more important things missing or wrong with Google Maps for a random blogger to presume that the people on the Maps team hasn't thought of this.