In many games they are a distraction. One eye glued to the mini-map to find your destination, or notice something that looks important, a place, an important NPC or a cave entrance. Worse are games with fog-of-war of the sort of Might&Magic. Worse, because for someone like me, if I don't uncover all tiles and finish the game, it wouldn't feel complete. Same with games like Two Worlds, Oblivion, ...
The only time I found a mapping system that I really liked was in the Eschalon series. There you have a skill and you have to improve it to be able to draw a remotely useful map with some detail on it. A path, patches of grass, swamps, walls, buildings are included only when your skill is high enough. If you belong to those who can't help but uncover a whole area, in this game, you will constantly go back to areas you already visited just to add all those missing details. You can also waste a lot of time with it.
My wish would be for an intelligent mapping/compass system. Let me give you an example. Consider your typical RPG party of four or five. Let's say it consists of a thief, paladin, monk, mage, archer/scout. The archer/scout has the ability to draw maps and has a general sense of direction, by looking at where the sun is they are able to tell which direction they must head to find the dwelling of an important NPC but not the most direct route. They could draw an arrow on their map signifying which direction in general they must go to get there. When they develop their skill not only will their map become more detailed but also objects, places, will be in their correct place. This could be something very simple like a rotting sign or some cave the party was about to explore but decided against because the entrance was sealed with some magic spell. Improving it further, they become able to tell direction by moss on a tree or wind or clouds, birds, animals ... until at last they become able to tell we got to walk north for a mile then turn south-east and there is Nanny Ogg's house. It is all about direction not X marks the spot.
Having a thief in the party, they could warn that there is a dangerous looking trap somewhere, which our scout/archer will draw on his map. Early on they do not know where exactly it is because the thief points out: It's over there about five feet from this tree stump near the bridge ... Our scout/archer now marks the general area and with luck they will not step into it. This is important because our thief still lacks the skill to disarm it he suggests to try to avoid it and if they come back he will take care of it. With some luck our scout/archer got it right and the party is able to walk around it. Once our thief is getting better with his skill to spot hidden doors in walls, our archer/scout being able to draw more precise maps, the thief will point out that there is something and instead of some room with a mark telling that there is a secret, the precise spot is drawn on the map.
Both PC complement their skills as they go and you end up with a detailed map. This way you wouldn't have to waste skill points on skills you wouldn't otherwise choose to use for one NPC. If there wasn't a thief in the party but an archer/scout, they can't pay attention to everything so would miss traps, secrets, unless they stumble into one or discover it by accident and add them to their map. In that case they could learn some thief skills which may or may not proof useful because they can't learn to a professional level without neglecting more important skills without which they become useless for a party.
Another way to implement smart mapping/direction would be by way of a three-step system. Auto-mapping as is common in many RPG, if you decide on the lowest level, there will be a crude map, a very general direction, no NPC or goal to travel to. Level 2 would allow you to have a compass of sorts signifying a direction, a tree, ruin or rock formation you are able to orient yourself to reach your goal and a general area you may be able to find the NPC you wish to visit. Level 3 will give you markers along the way you can follow like breadcrumbs which will eventually get you there and on the way the whole map is revealed with high detail of surrounding but without secret walls, entrances, or things of the nature you yourself must uncover and draw on that map.
Something like this would greatly add to the sense of exploring a foreign world and immersion. Instead of having your eyes glued to the map which already contains all the information you need and all you got to do is follow that stupid arrow, or walk in the direction until you reach the stupid X on your map, you discover things, pay attention to a beautiful landscape, a barren wasteland in which you discover some lizard or other animal while looking for markers or a way around a bridge you can't cross because there is a troll demanding money. Maybe somewhere further up/downstream you discover shallow water your party would be able to cross iff they are lucky. Else they slip and end up dead because they didn't spot a pool dragging them under. Maybe there is a tree stump they could lay across, which would end up as an important marker on the map as safe-crossing.
I would love to see a game that does it that way. Maybe there is?