Google Mapslets you save places in different categories so that you know why you saved them. Having pins in lists like “Want to go” and “Favorites” makes it easier to find them, but it doesn’t help you remember why you’d want to go, and adding a note to these saved places isn’t the most intuitive experience. As it turns out, Google has a fun, yet simple solution to this problem.
Googletoday announcedan update to Maps which allows users to add emoji to their saved places. The emoji you use in the app are what you’d see in messages, so sports balls, foods, and other regular emoji. When you look at your map, you will see a chat bubble pointing to the saved place with your chosen emoji within. Using this feature, you can tell the difference between a nail salon, burger place, or coffee shop without having to tap a location.
To add the emoji, go to the Saved tab in Google Maps and scroll down to the lists section. From there, make a new list or edit an existing listthat you created— sadly, this doesn’t work for the default lists provided by Google. At the top of theEdit listscreen, you can tapChoose iconto select an emoji.
Google uses the example of adding the coffee emoji to a list called “Fav Coffee Spots.” Pick the emoji you want, and give it a description. Now you just need to pick the spots you want to add to the list. Upon completion, you will see the spots now have an emoji next to their name if you’re close to them, but if you’re zoomed out far enough, you simply see the emoji.
This is a vast improvement fromthe pins Google was testingin August, which was likely a precursor to this change in retrospect. Pins for saved places were replaced with circular icons, but retained the basic heart, star, flag, and other iconography for the individual lists. Changing these pin-shaped indicators to circles was probably Google’s first step towards migrating over to the new emoji system, as the default saved place icons now mirror the circular shape of the custom emoji.
In comparison to pins or even the circular icons, emoji are much more effective at conveying a concept in a glance. Emoji also stand out better in thenew UI designrevealed not long ago. Colorful emoji naturally pop when contrasted against the more distinguished UI, giving users a better idea of where — and what — their favorite places are.
