Don't mix Location Services and Location History (confusing but similarly named things - Google at it's best :P).
Location Services provide... location. Without it, Maps obviously won't work. Location History sends your location to Google servers and you should probably turn it off.
tomcatfish
The thing the posters likely are noting is that maps (lowercase 'm', just a regular map) work totally fine without knowing where you are, and Google Maps should too.
Location Services provide... location. Without it, Maps obviously won't work. Location History sends your location to Google servers and you should probably turn it off.