I’ve played a bit more pikmin bloom than pokémon go (and I’ve stopped playing both), but avatars show player locations on the GPS-like map, related to each other and game elements. Sure they could be generic markers instead but it’d lose a bit of charm.
What I didn’t understand was why don’t those use the aesthetics of the universe they’re based on. Like, it’s Pikmin. At least let me put a fish bowl helmet and a space suit on my avatar.