Google Maps pin

The Google Maps pin is the inverted-drop-shaped icon that marks locations in Google Maps. The pin is protected under a U.S. design patent as "teardrop-shaped marker icon including a shadow". Google has used the pin in various graphics, games, and promotional materials. The pin, sometimes referred to as "the marker", has been widely co-opted by other companies, organizations, and individuals for their own marketing efforts, artwork, and activism. In both digital and physical representations, the pin is often used to symbolize mapping software and the technology industry as a whole. The Google Maps pin has been called "a product of pure function that has evolved into a cultural phenomenon" and "a solution that would take on a life of its own, recognizable enough to stick up for itself in the art and design projects of others". "Looking like a hot air balloon in flight, this marker has landed squarely in the middle of our visual culture". In 2014, the Museum of Modern Art acquired a physical representation of the Google Maps pin for its permanent collection. In 2020, the pin icon became the official logo of Google Maps.