Google map was not offering turn-by-turn navigation on Idevices, that might be what he's referring to.
Google did not want to give turn-by-turn for free or for what apple was offering them, it costed them a lot of money in development. Google offered apple to make a version of Google Maps Navigation for iOS but Apple refused the offer.
"google maps navigation" is turn by turn gps with live traffic data. http://www.google.com/mobile/navigation/
google voice commands also has the same functionality you are referring to when you say "directions to chipotle"
I use this while I'm driving. I can imagine it would be similarly useful in a large city like mine while biking, especially if you had headphones which permitted road noise to be heard.