Two of the most popular map apps available on smartphones, Google Maps and Apple Maps, now disagree on the name of one of the Great Lakes. Google Maps is following the U.S. government’s renaming of Lake Ontario as Lake America, while Apple Maps is ignoring President Trump’s executive order.
9to5Mac reports that Google now shows “Lake America” in the United States, “Lake Ontario” in Canada, and “Lake Ontario (Lake America)” everywhere else. The company said the approach reflects its “long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country.” Lake Ontario sits on the border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of New York.
Predictably, leftists are melting down over the change.
Apple has taken a different path, at least for now. Apple Maps still shows “Lake Ontario,” even to users in the United States. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum told Fox News that “the President has reached out to Apple directly,” adding that he is “sure we may be seeing that change coming up soon.”
The change has already caused problems inside Ontario itself. Some provincial government and business websites that pull data from Google Maps started showing “Lake America” after the update. A Google spokesperson told Axios that developers who embed Google Maps on their sites can select a region to localize the display, which is how the mislabeling crept onto Ontario’s own pages. Stephen Crawford, the province’s minister of public and business service delivery and procurement, responded in a posted statement: “Following recent changes by Google, we’re actively reviewing our websites to make sure they all identify Lake Ontario by its correct name: Lake Ontario. As Ontarians, we will always stand up for our province, our identity and the places that define it.”
Breitbart News previously reported that MapQuest has refused to rename the body of water:
In a social media post Thursday, Mapquest shared a screenshot of Lake Ontario and declared “We’re not changing it.”
Social media users were quick to share their thoughts on it the post, one person writing, “You guys are still around?” while another commenter wrote “Bruh I thought you guys died in like 2006.”
“To do list: Delete MapQuest app. Wait a minute…no one uses it,” yet another person replied.
Read more at 9to5Mac here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of AI, free speech, and online censorship.