Apple Follows Google In Renaming Lake Ontario
Apple Maps began labelling Lake Ontario as "Lake America" for US users after President Trump personally asked the company to align with his executive order
Synopsis
The new change by Apple Maps is similar to the Google update, in that it has started to replace "Lake Ontario" with "Lake America" for all U.S. users as part of its new update. In the midst of the growing U.S.-Canada trade dispute, Canadian users are seeing the term "Lake Ontario," which is now being shown on both names on international versions.
Adopting Apple and Google is a step forward
In response to an order from U.S. President Donald Trump, Apple Inc. changed the name of Lake Ontario to "Lake America" on its Apple Maps service, following a similar change done by Alphabet Inc.'s Google. The change was for customers in the U.S. and the Canadian version of Apple Maps will still display the Lake Ontario name, while other versions will display both names.
An order issued by the President of the United States
The change was not just a simple database update; it was a complete rethinking of the whole process. Apple has been asked by the president to switch by the President himself and I think we may see that change on Lake America come in the near future," said U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in an interview.
Apple was slower to move than its faster competitor. Apple Maps was slower to make the adjustment than Google when Trump changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America" and Mount Denali to Mount McKinley earlier this year — it took 8 days for Google, yet Apple took more than three weeks.
The Underlying Trade Dispute
The name change is coming as part of Trump's larger trade trade dispute with Canada last week. The movement has been formalised by Google first. The changes were "in keeping with our long-standing policy of changing the names of bodies of water that change from country to country," Google said in a statement, citing a change in the US Geographic Names Information System's database.
Google explains that these updates are in line with our long-standing practice in the case of names that differ across countries, and will start rolling out at this time.
The variations in the rollout by region
The lake will appear as the Lake America on Apple maps for U.S. users, or as the Lake Ontario name for Canadian users, or as both names for users worldwide. Rollout of the technical aspects has been slow and unevenly distributed across devices.
The change looks like it's rolling out a little at a time to Apple Maps users: Some of the members of our test team still had "Lake Ontario" on their device, though colleagues had "Lake America.
Canadian Pushback and a Rival's Refusal
The switch has been strongly rejected by Canadian authorities. Trump cannot just unilaterally change the name of a joint water. And Canadian officials have indicated they won't name Lake Ontario as Lake America.
One U.S. mapping competitor used the situation as a marketing opportunity. MapQuest also has said it will not be changing the name of the lake, with a viral tweet it wrote stating "Name it whatever you want at your leisure," and is seeing a boost in engagement that has its app soaring high in the download charts.
What's the point of cartography if it isn't to have a point
The episode speaks to how increasingly consumer technology is drawn into geopolitical and trade disputes and how labelling of maps is an unlikely issue. Apple previously changed the Gulf of Mexico to "Gulf of America" and Mount Denali to Mount McKinley last year when Trump renamed those sites via executive order on the first day of his second term.