Bluetooth is passively looking for devices to connect to all the time. The alternative would be to require users to actively initiate connections, which would be a horrible experience.
Yes, passively looking for devices is very different from noteing each device, tagging it with a location, and adding it to a central database.
WiFi has been used this way for 15 years to aid with approximate location queries. I don’t think concerns with the technology are unjustified, but referring to it as abuse is unnecessarily histrionic. This type of use for radios is not unprecedented, and eg the “central” database you refer to is only central in any meaningful sense if their implementation ends up being flawed. Otherwise is an encrypted repository of user data.
I've been using Bluetooth for at least a decade and I really believed this active connection was actually needed.