No, it's not. Location History is something you can disable (or set to autodelete history) and Maps will work just fine without it.

The issue I found when I tried using Google apps without invasive data tracking was that Google has no middle ground: Either you let it know everywhere you are at all times, or it doesn't even retain location search history of any kind or even suggest locations close to you.

I feel like a navigation app should be like a weather app in what it knows about me: Roughly, what zip code I'm in. Google Maps without location history doesn't even act that smart, it's too dependent on invasive tracking.