"Import maps are a new way for web pages to control the behavior of JavaScript imports, potentially enabling you to ditch your build system."
I could not find any explanation of how it avoids the build system.
What happens exactly behind the scene?
Is it a complete different use of a build tool?
Related Question:
What is "npm run build" in create-react-app?
Resources: https://www.honeybadger.io/blog/import-maps/
Import maps mean you no longer have to adjust every module source code to use import paths that match exactly the URL where you are serving the target module. This not only includes your own module code, where you have this control anyway, but also libraries and other dependencies. You are still responsible for using unique module identifiers across your whole application, but with an import map you can decide (and easily change) the web location to which the identifier resolves, from where the browser will load the module file. This mapping needs to be maintained only in a single place.
Traditionally, a bundler in your build toolchain would have done the job of rewriting all import declarations. You can now skip this step, getting closer to the goal of directly serving the original javascript source code as-is.