Google Maps experiments with tiny dots for pins
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by too many markers on Google Maps, you might like a new feature they’re trying out. Instead of big pins, they’re now testing tiny dots.
Currently, when you look at a map, all the pins – like stars, hearts, or flags – stay the same size, no matter how far you zoom out. But as you zoom out further, these pins start to crowd together, making it hard to see them all.
Now, Google Maps is experimenting with a new idea where pins shrink into small, colored dots when you zoom out far enough. These dots don’t have any icons; they’re just small circles with a colored center and a white border. This change happens only when you’re zoomed out a lot. When you zoom in closer, you’ll see the full pins again.
Google had tried something similar back in 2023 but then decided to go back to the old way. They explained, “We made this change on purpose. The pins for your saved places are still there when you zoom in. But at very wide views, they turn into dots to keep the map tidy. As you zoom in closer, the pins grow back to normal.”
What’s different this time is that some pins remain their usual shape while others turn into dots. The dots are less visible, which can make them harder to find, but they do make the map look less cluttered. This also helps keep street names and other information on the map clear.
We’ve noticed these dots in the latest beta version of Google Maps (version 25.06.x) for Android. In our comparison, we marked the same spots on both the regular and beta versions, then zoomed out to see how Seattle looked.