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This is really a nice visual comparison of Google Maps and Apple Maps over the years.

The gist of the article is that Google has deemphasized roads in favor of showing places, e.g. bars, restaurants, shops, etc.

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When you are just looking at the map, chances are you are looking to go somewhere so the focus is on the places. When you've planned a route you're interested in the roads so the labels disappear.

I think this is just the dynamics that are enabled by transitioning from bitmap tiles to vector data.

Google maps on iPhone doesn't put bus stops on the map until you've massively zoomed in, even if you're in the route planning bit. (Maybe it's a cultural thing? Most bus stops in the UK are request stops, and bus users need to see the stops on the map to know when to ring the bell. I'm not sure if that's how bus stops work wherever the Google Map programmers are.)

This is one example of how unusable Maps is.

It's a shame, because it's one of the things that really feels like living in the future.

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