I compared 'apples and apples':
You and Don are right, there is no 'actual distortion' at the Zoom 4 level. The larger/smaller 'pixels' I saw must have been at zoom 5, or zoom 3. You can see it most clearly in zoom 5 above.
My graphics card and monitor display the icons exactly as you see above. There is no shadow bleed. Unless I'm only supposed to have a one pixel shadow? I have a 2 pixel shadow to the south, and a 1 pixel shadow to the west. As you can see above.
To my eyes -
- the shadow must be what changes the
perceived shape, detail and crispness of the icons. Just as framing the same art with different coloured or sized borders changes what you 'see'.
I'm not suggesting we should do away with the game added shadow. Only that when making icons it's a good idea to load them into the game during the design process, as they will 'appear' differently on the map.
Cross