> but you need a paid Apple Developer Program account.
Where was "paid" bit listed? You don't have to pay the yearly fee to have a developer account. I let my paid subscription expire a few years ago, and I can still login and do various things.
at this point, Apple would _pay you_ to use it if they thought it would help adoption. MapKit usage outside of iOS is a critical to the success of Apple Maps.
long term, I wouldn't be surprised if maps.apple.com gained a web experience, too