AMap is the equivalent of Google Maps in China, so when Google started collecting wifi SSIDs and cell IDs on android and using them for faster-than-GPS or GPS-denied location determination, it was only a matter of time until AMap added it.
The article seems to be suggesting the device itself is gathering data and reporting back covertly ... but I believe it's just the AMap library included by the app developer doing its thing. In all likelihood, the data comes from phone sensors and is gathered by the app library, not from the device. And indeed, the Chinese language app logs on the Part 3 page only seem to refer to bluetooth and power related functions.
This supports a hypothesis of the app and device developers not knowing this collection is going on - ie. standard-library-using-developer not international-covert-surveillance-product-conspiracy. I think that is far more likely.