The new iPhoto for iOS does not use Google Maps. The tiles brought up when you use the locate feature of iPhoto, in order to display where the photo was shot, almost definitely do not have the traditional Google Maps in the Maps app of iOS. Updates below.
This may be a new indicator that Apple is planning on removing Google’s map information from iOS entirely. As of now, Apple provides its own map solution, but uses data licensed privately from Google. This could be Apple’s way of testing out its new maps product before it goes live in the Maps app of a future version of iOS.
Adding fuel to the fire that Apple is using its own product, TNW reader Holger Eilhard found that the data in the iPhoto for iOS map pane is being downloaded from an Apple server called gsp2.apple.com directly:
Apple has been quietly building its own solution for maps since at least 2009. That is when it acquired small but innovative maps company Placebase and started up its own ‘GEO Team’. More
