If you have a lot of saved places, Google Maps can look a bit unwieldy with all those pins, and the app is now testing using small dots to address that.
At the moment, pins — stars, flags, hearts, etc. — in Google Maps keep their size/shape no matter the zoom level. (As you really zoom out, the pins will overlap and you’ll eventually just be left with one.)
Google Maps is now testing shrinking those pins into much smaller dots with no icon when you zoom out. Only color (with a white perimeter) is used to represent the meaning. There’s no change (with full pins) when you’ve moderately zoomed in.
Stable vs. beta
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Google previously tried this in 2023 and rolled it back: “This is an intentional change and the pins for saved places still exist at most zoom levels. When you get to smaller zoom levels, the pins change to small dots in order to save space and streamline the map. As you zoom in, the saved pins do expand.”
What looks to be new today is how some pins keep their original shape while others become the small circles. These dots are harder to see, thus hurting visibility, but they do make the map a bit cleaner. It’s also less disruptive for text and other labels.
We’re seeing the dots today in the Google Maps beta (version 25.06.x) on Android. In the stable vs. beta example above, we pinned the same locations and then searched “Seattle” to set the zoom level.
More on Google Maps:
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