Not every map type needs to be balanced around Deity difficulty. I'm not saying that certain adjustments to this map are not needed, however it's not quite on point to complain about civ placement because it makes Deity AI too strong.
I get what you're saying and I agree that spawn places could be moved further from each other. What I don't agree with is that the difficulty setting (or game speed) matters here anyhow. That's not what map is supposed to be balanced around; it's supposed to be designed fun and interesting to play at. You like islands? Pick island plates or smth like that. You like our homeland Earth? Pick Earth. You like continents? Continents it is, then. Continents + Islands or Terra for colonial gameplay, etc.
There are also competitive maps (clover, etc.) which are not particularly fun but hey, talks about difficulty and game speed are more relevant for those maps because those are supposed to be balanced inherently.
P.S. No offense mate, that's just my point of view that I wanted to share