Several individuals on Twitter are sharing screenshots and information showing large landmark icons showing cities most important locations. Not everyone is seeing the landmark icons yet, so this could be a test or a slow rollout.
I’m starting to see more and more of these large icons for places on Google Maps. pic.twitter.com/e2LgdNrsdr
— Joy Hawkins (@JoyanneHawkins) December 9, 2020
In order to view landmarks, open Google Maps and go to any city and you can see landmarks over museums, aquariums, buildings, sports stadiums, parks and more. This is currently occurring on both desktop and mobile.
Toronto Landmark Icon
Los Angeles Landmark Icons
New York City Landmark Icons
Chicago Landmark Icons
Which Businesses Have Landmark Icons
It appears only larger cities with major monuments or tourist attractions are getting the icon treatment at the moment. If a city has more than 1 icon worthy landmark, it will show several. If you zoom in closer, you may find even icons. Check out this example from London.
This first example is a zoomed out view of London showing only 1 icon – Kensington Palace.
If we zoom in, we can see several more landmark icons appear.
These landmark icons are rather large and take up a good amount of space on Maps. It is unclear if the icons are automatically generated or if a business has to submit them. One potential issue could stem from nearby businesses which get covered up by the large icon.
What are You Seeing?
What are you seeing? Do you see landmark icons yet? Do you have any information on these new icons? Let us know in the comments. We will update this blog once we have additional information.
