There's a very good reason: because they're mostly used as the background to the location of spots you're searching for, or driving/transit directions.
Your search pins or path are foregrounded with excellent contrast against the map because this is what people are looking for 99% of the time.
These days, it's very rare to use an online map just as a map to "browse". Obviously you still can, but it's probably like 1% of the time. And the "low contrast" version still works for that, it's just not optimized for it.
Your search pins or path are foregrounded with excellent contrast against the map because this is what people are looking for 99% of the time.
These days, it's very rare to use an online map just as a map to "browse". Obviously you still can, but it's probably like 1% of the time. And the "low contrast" version still works for that, it's just not optimized for it.