Overall I think Skyrim beats Oblivion in pretty much every way, buuut the one thing I think I liked more about Oblivion so far is its 2D map. I'm only level 17 so maybe I'll find something else eventually, but I just find Skyrims 3D map hard to navigate and it just doesn't feel like a map.
That's because it's not a map. It's a 3D model of the game world.
That aside, I agree. I don't like it. It's very pretty, but it falls well short of the functionality it needs. While it does show relative relations between locations, it's all but useless for finding a route between those locations. Most of the roads are nearly impossible to see. If I'm on a road, the map is only good or telling me if the road will lead me in the right general direction. If I'm not on a road or if my destination is far away, the map is useless to me.
I would much rather have a 2D map with the info I need to navigate than a shiny 3D map.