I think if Google Maps was an optional download and said "when you use Google Maps we are tracking where you are so we can show you things and know what kind of

I think if Google Maps was an optional download and said "when you use Google Maps we are tracking where you are so we can show you things and know what kind of traffic is around", and when Google Maps was off or uninstalled they didn't track you, then they could offer the exact service you as talking about without causing GDPR problems. I believe Waze managed to do it like this without needing always-on OS-level triangulated coverage maps, but I could be wrong. This seems like one of those things that is a huge thing A that they do with the data that no one likes, but in response Google says "but we do B with it so A is fine" and the response is "you could easily do B without doing A so just do B" and Google says "well we don't make as much money just from B so we will do A and since we also own the OS you'll just have to be ok with it".