Permit me a small moment of pride at my choice of life-partner.
I asked my wife if I could upgrade her phone to the new OS, but that the map app has changed for the worse and 'You may not like it... How often do you use it?' 'A few times a week'.
She's not a geek whatsoever. Has never installed an app and barely touched a preferences setting. Loves listening to the podcasts I subscribe to for her and tell her which app to use.
So I hand her the 'upgraded' phone and ask her to check out the new map app. She does a search for the office she's working in tomorrow and it pinmarks the completely wrong end of the street.
I felt bad about 'upgrading' her phone, but a minute later she hands it back to me.
She's moved the Apple map app onto the second screen and replaced it with a weblink to the Google maps site.
Almost-as-good, but it doesn't open the app when you click an address, since there's no way to make it the default app. It'd be the same problem even if Google did release their own native Maps.
2) Hit Yes when it wants to know your location
3) Hit Yes when it pesters you to add it as an icon (for once, it's not bothering me). The icon is snazzy.
4) Enjoy your almost-as-good-as-the-app-was mobile Google Maps experience. Complete with transit directions. But, alas, no Street View.