Yeah you could see little icons showing where actual cities and outposts were on the planets. I remember one planet had like 2 of those.

So if you count the areas with actual content, it's likely between 2-4 times the size of their previous game, which is pretty normal for Bethesda. Then after that, you have 1000x or 2000x more area tied up in procedurally generated plains and moonscapes. And then like a dozen unmarked easter egg areas in absolutely random spots.