Comment by ComputerGuru

While some platforms go through the Maps app to get the location, under macOS/iOS there's the locationd daemon that provides the location independently of any app. There, Maps is just a locationd consumer just like any other app requesting a location so Maps shouldn't be invoked in the background by non-Maps stuff. But perhaps Maps has a timed trigger to background update your cached location (so it can open up to the correct startup location instead of locating you after startup) or something similar.