my bet is google or Apple buy NEA, page-4

And to better understand why Google are repricing their maps, you need to understand why Google are doing this, which is covered in the article below.  

https://www.wired.com/story/how-maps-became-the-new-search-box/

If internet users aren't using the search box to find things on a location basis, then they wont see any Adwords served to them, which negates any revenue opportunity for Google.

So Google know that map search growth is another way to monetise everyday searches.