This discussion is a bit generic, I'm not sure I understand what's the real issue at hand. But it's good to discuss. I'll jump to what's IMHO the main point.
Yuri Astrakhan, 05/11/2016 19:26:
Maps are not really a part of interface because they only appear as part of the page content, which is fully controlled by the community.
On the other hand, maps are most often used via templates. Such templates usually have a long history and often their maintainers have long since disappeared. Most of the time, it's hard to implement any change simply because the editors have other, more pressing things to look after.
If you select some widely used templates on a few dozens wikis, and code their replacement for the community, you can have a deployment which is both gradual and (locally) massive. Of course it's important to not impose yourself and at the same time take responsibility of monitoring the effects and adjusting the templates later if issues arise, although this is usually not the developers' concern.
Nemo