The title is a little misleading. It may be more efficient compared to the 5 years old Google Maps app on iOS, but Google Maps for Android has been vector based since December 16th, 2010, when they launched Google Maps 5.0.
Also don't forget Apple's Maps retrieve a lot less data than Google Maps, since they don't actually have that data. Google Maps offers a lot more information.
Also, compared to Android's app, it's also important to emphasize the ability to download map areas [1]. That way, you can download to your phone's cache the areas you will visit later, using a WiFi connection, so you can use the app without using your data plan or in areas without signal.
iOS's version of Maps was very incomplete compared to Android's version. Most probably, Apple was not very happy with Google about that.
>Also don't forget Apple's Maps retrieve a lot less data than Google Maps, since they don't actually have that data. Google Maps offers a lot more information.
Well this is just stupidity at its finest.
A few extra POIs/streets would pale in comparison to the difference between vector and raster images.
http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/12/under-hood-of-googl...
Also don't forget Apple's Maps retrieve a lot less data than Google Maps, since they don't actually have that data. Google Maps offers a lot more information.