When you are just looking at the map, chances are you are looking to go somewhere so the focus is on the places. When you've planned a route you're interested in the roads so the labels disappear.
I think this is just the dynamics that are enabled by transitioning from bitmap tiles to vector data.
Google maps on iPhone doesn't put bus stops on the map until you've massively zoomed in, even if you're in the route planning bit. (Maybe it's a cultural thing? Most bus stops in the UK are request stops, and bus users need to see the stops on the map to know when to ring the bell. I'm not sure if that's how bus stops work wherever the Google Map programmers are.)
This is one example of how unusable Maps is.
It's a shame, because it's one of the things that really feels like living in the future.
Partially because Google and Apple maps are proprietary and partially because mapping things like foot paths are more amenable to community involvement and Google and Apple maps are built in ways that do not strongly facilitate it. And partly because treating Google and Apple maps as the important alternatives seems to be a bit of Silicon Valley shaped world view.
I wonder what would happen if the author went to the places he noted Apple had on top of each other and did the "Move Pin" thing. I wonder if the changes would show up.
How long does it take Apple to trust users that submit corrections? Or, do they do such a thing?
The gist of the article is that Google has deemphasized roads in favor of showing places, e.g. bars, restaurants, shops, etc.