I always use Apple Maps, but once in a while if I'm in an unfamiliar city and the Apple Maps directions seem suspiciously weird, it is useful to have Google Maps app for a sanity check. (directions to a particular pier at the Seattle waterfront were insanely incorrect via Apple)
On my side in France apple Map only partially work. Basemap are displaying correctly but query and routing function are unreachables. "Domain name not found" (translated from french). So it could be a DNS meltdown?
Usually basemap because they are heavy are served through a separate CDN.
Probably true, but we wanted it for driving directions via CarPlay and were in a bit of a rush. The car's built-in navigation (which we otherwise never use) ended up working fine, but the browser versions probably would have been my next attempt.
Looks like I really need to keep a 3rd party nav app installed just in case!