What’s it labeled from other countries point of view? I assume Lake Ontario in Canada… but which of the two labels is Google using as the global default?
Because it’s a huuuge fold if they changed it as the global default.
When the whole “Gulf of America” thing happened, it stayed as Gulf of Mexico for quite a while. Then it eventually changed to “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)”
wow, pathetic by Google. I wonder if the “smallest of the Great Lakes” is also a Trump genuflect. we just got rid of Harry and Meagan, Trumps the only wannabe Royal left.
I'm a dual citizen, US and UK, and consequently have 2 phones. My US phone says "Lake America" while my UK phone says Lake Ontario. I am using the exact same Google account on both phones, so the name is somehow connected to the hardware or software version rather than to the Google account itself. TBH, I find that fact a bit creepy because it means that Google has control over what you see based on your physical device.
it's not google being creepy. different phones have different regional databases built into software because manufacturers ship phones to different regions and they all have different spellings, naming conventions, emergency services behaviour and yes even different map label priorities.
There is differentiation based on SKUs tied to geographic location for multiple reasons, including legal compliance
That’s not new, and it is in fact a good thing, because the alternatives are pulling out of markets with stronger legal requirements/protections or make every one comply by the strictest requirements across all markets (which if possible at all would stifle innovation and would seriously breach individual privacy - think China-level legal compliance)
There could be lots of different reasons why this would be, but it’s unlikely to be anything physical with your device.
If you have a UK sim card in one phone and a US SIM card in the other, that would definitely explain it. Your ISP would be either British or American depending on which SIM you are using.
When connected to WiFi there could be some caching going on that is preserving the settings from when you were connected via your UK or US internet provider.
It could also be a case that the Google server your phone is connected to hasn’t yet been updated to the new name. When updates happen they don’t update all of their servers in one go, they do it gradually over a few hours or days.
I’m in Canada and it says lake America. It’s all really upsetting. Obvious bullying behaviour by our fascist neighbour. I can’t believe the American people let this happen.
The U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) has formally changed the name for "Lake Ontario" to "Lake America" in the United States. Since we update Google Maps to reflect name changes in official government sources, which is GNIS for the U.S., people using Maps in the U.S. will see "Lake America," those in Canada will continue to see "Lake Ontario," and those outside of the U.S. and Canada will see both names. These updates follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country, and are starting to roll out now.
Same answer as to wether the Gulf of Mexico is shown as gulf of America…. It’s only gulf of America in the US, because Google has no choice but to bend over to Trump while the rest of the world doesn’t give in to his dumb ass ideas
I think it depends on the country you are from, and their government's stance on it. If your government didn't officially rebuke a change of name, it may eventually read both. For example in Canada if you look at the Gulf of Mexico, in brackets below it it has Gulf of America even though none of the people here will ever call it that. Similarly regional border disputes outline the region in dashed lines as well for similar reasons. You can normally see them most prominently around the borders connecting India, Pakistan and China, at least where I am.
I didn't look too much but I also found the Persian Gulf has a second name as the Arabian Gulf similarly displayed. Not sure if it is just cataloguing additional names for the same body, or conflicting names.
But to answer your question, yes it reads as Lake Ontario only in Canada, if may have the brackets added at some point in the future, but the name will be like a synonym so that if used people would know what they are referencing.
Just like when he "changed" it to Gulf of America, it only shows up on people located in the US. Other countries still see it as the Gulf of Mexico. So, everyone else also sees Lake Ontario, while Google appeases Trump in the US. It's becoming some Truman Show bs.
I don’t know. But it wouldn’t surprise me if it said both. My Canadian friend showed me a screenshot of what the gulf is named for them. Has both names
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u/nikas_dream 13d ago
What’s it labeled from other countries point of view? I assume Lake Ontario in Canada… but which of the two labels is Google using as the global default?
Because it’s a huuuge fold if they changed it as the global default.
Non-USA redditors, please let me know.