I agree that map generation should be improved. Or at least, a map editor implemented so that the community can produce customized maps, even those based on real geography.
I would like a map in which a badly needed resource (e.g. coal) is only located in a very abrupt part of the map, so that you have to carefully build a line to reach the resource. In the present situation, all maps look more or less the same and if you need coal, for instance, you have plenty of it more or less everywhere…