Is this a setting in the maps app?

That's a good question. The thing is though that I never muck around with settings like that, I don't even know where to find the settings let alone amend them.

On that basis, if it is a changeable setting, then it has defaulted to its current state. And my bet is that 90% or more of people are in the same boat as me.

To set the defaults so that that they automatically default to hyperlink out of a webpage to a G property without the author knowing strikes me as a bit of a liberty. And it's not just my website it does this for, I've tried it on several others and they do the same as long as the address looks like an address.

So, yes, your question is a good one but my original questions are maybe more relevant given the lack of control I have over the hyperlink.

Using the hyperlink a bit more, it does seem to be a useful feature because I can potentially get directions easily. The worry is that it's not under my control and what other links will occur in the future and where will they take the viewer - away from my pages for sure.

I agree with your observations, my question was because of an unappreciated update to a Maps App I had been using and since you didn't mention the App or platform I couldn't decide whether the experiences were related. You might remember several years ago when webmasters looked for an answer to MSIE taking control of our content and everyone countered with the
<meta name="MSSmartTagsPreventParsing" content="TRUE">
tag. I thought that getting more eyes investigating might be useful for all of us with websites that are accessed by mobile devices.

It is possible that unseen partnerships affect the coding in some apps. It happens all the time with shopping toolbars. Is your phone Android or OSX and is your maps app from Google or a different developer? If it is a Google App were you logged in at the time. The settings could be someplace other than on your phone. Just things to think about. I had not heard of this happening before.

Thanks for those ideas.

The phone is Android, I wasn't logged into G.

I have two Maps apps on the phone, one is the standard G one and the other is HTC Locations

I checked this out on my partner's phone which is also Android but only has G maps. Tapping on the address on her phone causes nothing to happen.

Tapping on mine and I get taken to the HTC maps app. So it seems you have nailed it. In my case it seems the HTC Locations app is the culprit.

Good to know. I had not heard of that anywhere. If you run into what triggers that action, maybe it can be disabled. If you do, it would be some helpful info to share. I can't imagine that is something that very many webmasters want to see happening.