The symbols down the right side of Aloft’s map table are filters for beacons you place yourself. The five shapes—ring, gate, leaf, triangle and sun—do not have fixed meanings such as “resource” or “quest”; you decide what each beacon means in your playthrough. Island colors and other map icons show separate information.
What the five symbols on the right mean
Ring, gate, leaf, triangle and sun are the five beacon types. Select one of these symbols to highlight islands where you placed a beacon of that type. The symbols do not appear naturally on islands: you unlock beacons, place them, and use them as personal labels.
Aloft developer Nicolas Fournier explained in a Steam discussion on January 15, 2025, that players choose what the icons mean for their playthrough, comparing them to pins in Hollow Knight. A triangle on an island therefore does not, by itself, indicate a special item or objective. Its meaning depends on what you chose to mark there.
How to distinguish colors, island icons and beacon markers
These map details answer different questions. Color indicates an island’s discovery or ecosystem state; icons and silhouettes provide island-specific information; the right-side symbols filter your own beacon labels.
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| Map detail | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Grey island | Unvisited. |
| Yellow island | Unhealthy. |
| Purple island | Corrupted. |
| Green island | Healthy and discovered. |
| “KG” icon | The island is too heavy to sail. |
| Tree with an exclamation mark | Unhealthy. |
| Mushroom face | Corrupted. |
| Question mark | Unexplored; the wiki also says a question mark can mark a fresco island before discovery. |
| Pebble-shaped island | Standard island. |
| Fresco-shaped island | Island containing a fresco. The wiki says the question mark is replaced by the fresco symbol after landing. |
| G | An island with a Lost Atlas, according to the wiki. |
The map can also show features such as shipwrecks, glider trials, life saplings, life trees, players, home islands and friends. These are distinct from the five player-placed beacon markers.
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Using the map table to mark and find islands
- Place beacons as labels. Once you unlock beacons, use their shapes to mark islands according to your own system—for example, a category you want to remember. The game does not prescribe what each shape must stand for.
- Filter by beacon type. Select a symbol on the map’s right side to highlight islands marked with that beacon.
- Set a waypoint when you need a route. The wiki describes right-clicking the map to set a waypoint. Leave the map view and follow the distant green glow toward the destination; heavy fog can make it difficult to see.
- Check island characteristics nearby. The map gives relative positions, but does not show island size or altitude. The wiki recommends using a spyglass near an unexplored island to learn those characteristics.
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