openstreetmap
Use target symbol for Show My Location icon
Target Symbol: This icon, common on Android and in web applications like Google Maps, often appears as a circle with a dot in the center ~~and four lines extending outwards~~, resembling a target or crosshair. Tapping it typically re-centers the map view to your current location.
This would be much more familiar than the current arrow pointing northeast.
Same goes for OSM.ORG website, which should be updated too.
openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website#1494 tracks the same thing for the main website.
As https://github.com/openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website/issues/1494#issuecomment-288576613 points out, it’s largely a platform difference: users on Apple platforms associate the arrow with geolocation, while users of Google products (and to a lesser extent Mozilla products) associate the crosshair with geolocation. Meanwhile, the crosshair can also be confused with an icon for a point-and-click identification tool: openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website#1712.
Yes, the affordance on iOS is always an arrow, even in Google products that otherwise adhere to Material Design.
I've got it! How about a combined symbol, with the arrow inside the central dot! Simply combining the two Google versions.
You’re welcome to work on anything without asking, but note that this issue only represents a suggestion at this point. Your implementation of it would have to convince the maintainers it’s even a good idea.