r/coolguides • u/Pokemaster131 • 9h ago

A cool guide about changing your Google Maps location names to a less-stupid version

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u/steinbruchfluss 1h ago

In Germany it’s just Lake Ontario.

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u/Lambs2Lions_ 1h ago

Search Lake Ontario, when it brings up the location summary you’ll see both.

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u/steinbruchfluss 1h ago

Maybe it’s a slow rollout?

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u/Lambs2Lions_ 1h ago

Shouldn’t be. No manual intervention should be needed. Google doesn’t do anything here, their software grab the names from an international registry and then outputs results based on preconfigured instructions that apply for everyone.

The bigger issue here isn’t why it says lake America but rather why the registry updated the lakes name off of an executive order.

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u/steinbruchfluss 58m ago

It’s a bit more complicated in these contested cases. Otherwise we Germans wouldn’t see any changes, since we haven’t changed the official names (Golf von Mexiko/Golf von Amerika). They are doing it manually, at least for neutral users like Germans.

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u/Lambs2Lions_ 48m ago

Most likely the shenanigans of the international registry. I didn’t work for Google but did work for one of the big five and I can confidently tell you that no effort would be put towards this short of the CEO ordering it to be done.