Well.... they look bad? I mean not awful but the current version is better in terms of detail. We discussed this a few times already. I can also give a technical explanation why the current map is better for TW and modders but I think it's not necessary right now.
I will copy-paste a few responses I posted about this in other discussions
Bannerlord's map is beautiful right now with its terrain features. Some aspects of the map are still bugged like the ground is all green but trees are snowed etc but these can be fixed super easily with a stroke of the brush.
However, the overall color palette can be improved more like what Terco showed and texture saturation should be changed.
I think the main problem is the grassy texture that they use and the map FX filter. In 2016's photo, you are seeing that atmosphere is way darker than what we have now - which I'm all up for - but textures are still good in terms of color/saturation.
Adding moving fog/clouds or flying flock of birds on some forests as small details would also make the map look great.
That being said, the map definitely needs some fog/FX adjustment - as Terco demonstrated before
And having more details would also make the map look better ( as Calradia Expanded demonstrated )