It is also the first of any of Apple's iOS apps to abandon Google Maps. Instead, iPhoto for iPad, an advanced photo editing app, relies on the OpenStreetMap Foundation, a British not-for-profit that offers free mapping data gathered by a worldwide army of 400,000 volunteers.
The switch was unannounced and came as news to the Foundation this week when iPhoto was released.
"Apple launched iPhoto, its photo management app, for the iPad and iPhone… and we're rather pleased to find they're the latest to switch to OpenStreetMap," it said on its blog.
In iPhoto, mapping data is used to tag the locations where photographs were taken. It could be argued that is not a vital feature, but the decision to ditch Google is indicative of Apple's desire for greater independence from a firm that is now its biggest smartphone rival.
When the iPhone was conceived in 2006 the two firms were close collaborators. Google's then-chief executive Eric Schmidt sat on Apple's board and his firm's maps were integrated into the first version of iOS.
But the release of Android, which Steve Jobs considered a "stolen product", put that friendship under strain. Schmidt quit the Apple board in 2009 and Google has become the biggest threat to the iPhone and iPad.
The rivalry has spilled over into the courts, with Apple and Android manufacturers exchanging tit-for-tat patent lawsuits around the world.
In that light, the decision to drop Google Maps, even in one app, is significant. Apple has also been steadily acquiring small companies to improve its ability to pinpoint iPhone and iPad users' locations on maps, so it seems likely that this is just the first step towards abandoning Google Maps in iOS completely.
The move was welcomed by the OpenStreetMap Foundation, with one caveat. Apple has not given proper credit to its free maps in iPhoto for iPad.
"We look forward to working with Apple to get that on there," the Foundation said.
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