Which is why they're trying to crowd source the maintainership: the idea is that airports and giant retail stores will have a built-in incentive to keep their maps updated. And it might be true.
But I'm a little mixed on this. Google maps, while great and useful, isn't an open source project. The data is closed and proprietary and not useful to the community at large. I'd much rather this be done under the umbrella of OSM or the like, or if nothing else published as a separate data set subject to open licensing.
A fair point, but it's only true in isolation. If they're in competition with another equally-well-stocked chain that has floorplans, then customers might prefer to shop at the niftier, more modern place with the fun maps. Note that big department stores have always had maps available at the entrance, it's not like they're inherently opposed to the practice.
Prices will just go up a bit across all items once this available in all/most stores, and the stores will stop relying on suckering us into buying a bit more than we want in order to keep their margins up. That's the small price we'll pay for the added convenience.
Have you seen Aisle411 for retail stores? They have some crowdsourced information (aisles in which products are located), which might be easier to maintain than more granular (exact Lat/Lon) location.
But I'm a little mixed on this. Google maps, while great and useful, isn't an open source project. The data is closed and proprietary and not useful to the community at large. I'd much rather this be done under the umbrella of OSM or the like, or if nothing else published as a separate data set subject to open licensing.