[rotrux]

Google maps is only profitable on the basis of advertising syndication & data collection. If you're not pumping google information about how people are using your map service or directing people to the sites of google's ads customers, they are probably losing money by serving you.

The issue is similar to the one that ruined their custom search offering: it doesn't make them enough money to justify its existence as anything more than a public service. Unless charity is what Google had in mind when they launched the api, their behavior makes business sense.