Before you write the new iOS 6-based Maps app off as a total loser, consider this: Its vector-based maps are actually capable of taking you further without an internet connection, thanks to automatic caching.

AppleInsider has published a look at one very big way that the iOS 6 built-in Maps app is an improvement over the previous Google-powered version, and it's all thanks to Apple's vector-based maps.

"Apple's new Maps are a huge leap over iOS 5 maps in pure technology," AppleInsider notes. "The use of vector maps (mathematically described, resolution independent map information rather than static bitmapped pictures of map tiles) enables fast, sophisticated navigation of 2D and 3D views with fluid panning, rotation and perspective, in contrast to the flat, static map images provided by Apple's previous version of the app."

Thanks to these vector maps, the new Maps app reportedly uses as much as 80 percent less data -- and important factor to consider in this era of shared data plans.

But that's not all: When your data connection is lost or a device is in Airplane mode, the iOS 6 Maps app is capable of viewing the cache from a far wider area than ever possible before.

"For example, while iOS 5 Maps would load Google's map tiles of the immediate area being browsed at a couple zoom levels for offline browsing (generally less than a 10 mile radius), Apple's new vector maps, once loaded in San Francisco, allowed us to browse an entire continent of high level maps (state outlines) while offline, north from Anchorage, Alaska to Lima, Peru and from Honolulu, Hawaii to Montréal, Canada," AppleInsider reveals.

The iOS 6 Maps also loads detailed, street-level maps for areas never searched or traveled previously, complete with basic satellite images and major city labels.

For all of its apparent faults, iOS 6 Maps appears to be a quantum leap forward in another area that most people haven't even considered, thanks to "automatic offline support."

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