If you’ve been a user of iPhoto on a Mac, you’re probably well-aware of its ability to read geo-tagged photo metadata and display a map showing just where you took what. In order to do so, Apple had been using standard Google Maps imagery. With the release today of iPhoto for the iPad, some users eager to check-out the same mapping function noticed an interesting change: Apple appears to have abandoned Google as its mapping partner for the app.

The big question is what this means for the rest of Apple’s programs that rely on Google Maps data, and in a broader sense, what it means about the company’s relationship with Google. Apple clearly wants to be relying on itself instead of its competitors, so the issue might be less about if Apple’s going to be showing Google the door, and more about when and how. Will Apple be quick to replace maps across all its products now that the cat’s out of the bag, or will we see more of a gradual transition?

For the moment, it’s unclear just what the source of this new map data is, but considering all the mapping-related companies Apple has acquired, it certainly has its pick of resources.

Source: 9 to 5 Mac