Personally, I think the Explore feature is great.
I just miss (much, lol) a checkbox to hide the species I’ve observed, what the query string flag “unobserved_by_user_id” already does. I added my thoughts to this old feature request https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/about-the-feature-requests-category-please-read-before-posting/69, but in summary, I feel the need to “fill the gaps” in my observations space, or search for new things I haven’t observed yet, when visiting any place. This is the same regardless if I am visiting a new area, or I am in my local surroundings. Observing new things is probably a common desire for many people; personally, I refrain for uploading the same species once and again, but the idea that there are things I haven’t seen yet motivates me to keep searching.
I am talking mainly and specifically about the Apps, btw.
Just adding my two cents, while I explore the forums and github repos and I learn how roadmap decisions are made :)