Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario to "Lake America." The move was retaliation against Canada for walking away from contentious trade talks and in spite of the fact that Lake Ontario's name has nothing to do with the Canadian province. Regardless, tech companies are now dealing with the consequences.
Why did Google Maps change Lake Ontario's name?
If you live in the U.S., you may have opened Google Maps this weekend to see that the app had already changed Lake Ontario's name. Even if you don't live in the U.S., you may see the name change: As it happens, there are now three different naming schemes for the lake in Google's navigation app. If you use the app in the U.S., you'll see "Lake America." If you use it in Canada, you'll see "Lake Ontario." If you use it anywhere else in the world, you'll see "Lake Ontario (Lake America)." Thanks, Google.
Google did the same when Trump "changed" the name of the Gulf of Mexico to "Gulf of America." While Google explains in a blog post that its policy is to follow the naming conventions of the U.S. Geographic Names Information System, it's also arguable that the company doesn't want to get into hot water with the Trump Administration, lest it be punished with future policies that could hurt its trillion-dollar business.
Whether you consider it basic bureaucratic compliance or corporate cowardice, Google Maps now calls the lake by its "new" name. It doesn't affect how the app works (maybe unless you're looking for directions to, or information about, Lake Ontario), but if the change rankles you, you have other options: As it stands, there are several Google Maps alternatives that still label it "Lake Ontario."
As of this writing, most of the navigation apps available to download call Lake Ontario by its official/"former" name. Whether that will remain true as the week goes on remains a question, but for now, the following apps are still reflecting the global consensus:
Apple Maps
MapQuest
Organic Maps
Technically, Waze also still calls it Lake Ontario on its map, and the name pops up when you start to search for it. But once you tap the result, the app then swaps the name to Lake America. That's to be expected, given Google owns Waze, but the app initially tricked me into thinking it had maintained the previous status quo.
Will other apps change Lake Ontario's name?
Will all these other apps maintain the Lake Ontario name over the long term? Like Google, Apple ultimately changed the Gulf of Mexico's name, so it will likely do the same with the lake. However, MapQuest and Organic Maps still call the Gulf of Mexico by its correct name, so chances are good they'll keep Lake Ontario on their maps for the foreseeable future.
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