Google Maps gets new icon, tweaked UI for 15th birthday

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  Left: the new Google Maps logo. Right: the old logo.

Google Maps is turning 15 this year, and Google is celebrating with a new icon and a few UI tweaks.

First, the Google Maps icon is no longer, well, a map and is now a multi-colored map pin. Like all of Google's other recent icons, Maps' icon follows a formula of outfitting a simple shape or letter with the colors red, blue, green, and yellow and calling it a day. You can expect this new icon to pop up on your phone sometime soon.

The bottom tab navigation is going to switch from three tabs to five, with new tabs for "Saved" (Saved places), "Contribute," and "Updates." None of these sections really represents new features, they just used to live in the left-side navigation drawer and now they have top-level access via the tab bar. Speaking of the left-side navigation drawer, the hamburger button that used to open it is dead. Presumably, the settings and other miscellaneous menu options will live under the account switcher, accessible via your profile picture on the right side of the search bar.

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