According to the documentation of https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/ios-sdk/reference/interface_g_m_s_services , this object can be created ahead of map creation to reduce the initial map creation cost. From several profiling runs, this is expensive in debug/profile - though significantly less so in release mode.

Nevertheless, it would be nice to have especially if it could reduce the jank encountered while developing.