In my airplane-mode testing, I found that a lot of maps were already cached. I was able to zoom out, scroll to France, and zoom in on Paris and London (which I'd cached explicitly).

The Maps app doesn't provide any information about cached maps -- no size, name, number or possible expiration dates.

Of all the undiscoverable features in the new Google Maps, the "ok maps" instruction for caching wins the prize. It's a bit ironic, too, given that the word "cache" comes from the French for "hidden".

Having watched various other Google apps evolve (including the previous Maps, which was lacking many features in its earliest iterations), I'm pretty confident the new Maps will improve rapidly. Still, pushing a major new release prematurely is a big mistake and it's gonna take a while for Google to recover goodwill this one has cost it.