Apple Maps still calls it Lake Ontario, but perhaps not for much longer. President Donald Trump is trying to rename it “Lake America,” and reportedly asked Apple directly to make the change in Apple Maps.
The push to rename the lake is part of Trump’s pressure campaign against Canada as the two countries remain locked in a trade war.
Trump vs. Canada with Lake Ontario caught in the middle
Trump first proposed renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America shortly after trade talks with Canada broke down earlier this month, tying the name change to his complaints about the country’s trade policies. The dispute has now escalated into a broader fight involving tariffs and other economic measures.
Then Trump signed an executive order on Thursday, August 27, directing the U.S. government to rename Lake Ontario.
Apple and Google pulled into the Lake America dispute
Google already updated Google Maps to show “Lake America” to U.S. users. Canadians continue to see Lake Ontario and users elsewhere see both names. Google says that approach follows its longstanding policy for bodies of water whose names vary between countries.
In contrast, Apple Maps currently continues to identify the body of water as Lake Ontario, including for users in the United States.
Trump noticed, and U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Monday that the president had contacted Apple about changing the name in its mapping service.
“The president reached out to Apple directly, so I’m sure that we may be seeing that change coming up soon to Lake America,” Burgum told Fox Business, according to Reuters.
Burgum has reason to be confident: Apple Maps shows “Gulf of America” after Trump ordered the name change from “Gulf of Mexico.”
But not MapQuest (remember MapQuest?)
MapQuest, meanwhile, is taking a very different approach. The longtime mapping service kept the traditional names for the lake and the gulf in its app, and the decision appears to be resonating with users.
MapQuest said its app climbed to No. 1 among navigation apps and No. 8 among free apps in the U.S. App Store as of August 30, its highest ranking in the company’s 30-year history. It also reached No. 2 among free apps in Canada’s App Store.
MapQuest said hundreds of thousands of people downloaded its apps after Thursday, with usage running about 50 times higher than normal.
The company is also having a little fun with the controversy, offering an online tool that lets people give the lake their own name.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 26 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh SE/30 (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer.
That’s because he’s a “tablet first” type of guy. Rather than use a Macbook, he connects a keyboard case to the iPad. And instead of a desktop Mac, he connects his tablet to a 27-inch display and full-size keyboard. (So don’t try to tell him that everyone has to use a Mac to be productive.)
Before coming to Cult of Mac, Ed wrote for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
