People need to remember that most of Android got moved into Play Services. It was the only way to keep a system relatively up to date when the OEMs won't update the OS itself.

Yeah, it's a dependency... as much as the Google Maps APK needing to run on Android itself.

Last I checked (about a year ago), the Google Maps app did work with microG (a FOSS reimplementation of Google Play Services).

I use maps on my phone on a regular basis - I would vastly prefer to have something less featured and stable versus hacking the crap out of my phone. But that's good to know.

Have you tried either of these?

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.osmand.plus/

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/app.organicmaps/

OsmAnd is an absolutely brilliant map app for android. Very fully featured but also pleasant to use (though I dislike some of the defaults).

One workaround is to use the mobile web app, which is surprisingly pretty decent for a web app. And because it's a web app, you can even disable things like sharing your location if you want to

I've just tested Google Maps on an Android device without Google Play Services or microG. The app works fine, although every time you cold-start it, the app shows an alert (which can be dismissed but not disabled) and a notification (which can be specifically disabled) that Google Play Services is unavailable. On an Android device with microG, Google Maps works without showing the alert or the notification about Google Play Services.

Ahhh, gotcha. Did not realize that. Makes sense.

There is a Google Maps website that works on mobile. No need for the app.