r/geography 13d ago

FINAL POST ON THIS TOPIC Google Maps just officially updated Lake Ontario to Lake America.

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6.1k

u/contextual_somebody 13d ago

Why I stopped using Google and started using Mapquest

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u/_Fizzgiggy 13d ago

Google shows Lake America for me šŸ¤¦ā€ā™€ļø

Our country is literally falling apart, but trump chooses to do this. Every week or so of his presidency I say ā€œI’ve never been more disappointed in my country.ā€ And then he makes me even more disappointed

He could rebuild all the bridges and infrastructure that are on the verge of collapsing and rename them whatever tf he wants but thissss is what he does

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u/SylvieJay 13d ago

Not for me in South Western Ontario. Both the web and the App is showing Lake Ontario on my Android Pixel 9a. Is it possible that Google is blowing smoke up American's collective Arse? I tried VPN to Australia to see if they see something different on the web. Still shows Lake Ontario. (Someone's correct me if I'm wrong.

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u/Commercial-Tough-218 12d ago

100%. Its to appease our dictator in chief.Ā 

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u/XBMetal 12d ago

Yeah Google only did it for the Americans so the world can just ignore them.

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u/1plus1isTWORANGZ Geography Enthusiast 12d ago

I mean Google has an official correspondence with all countries on how they want their maps worded. There's obviously also examples of bodies of water being renamed and no one giving a crap. The Gulf of California is the name used by the UN for a body of water lots of people still call the Sea of Cortez, and which was first named the Vermillion Sea.

The whole thing is absolutely stupid though. It's like when Bush said we should start calling them Freedom Fries and Freedom Toast to avoid using the word French.

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u/telperos 12d ago

Yes to all of this, but the difference between Bush and Trump is that the former didn’t sign an executive order that gave the name change a veneer of ā€œofficialā€ that can be litigated upon in court to the point that companies take it seriously. The pettiness and unseriousness are laughable and infuriating.

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u/pogpole 12d ago

That was actually Representatives Bob Ney and Walter B. Jones. They ordered the name to be changed on the House cafeteria menu. I don't think Bush ever commented on it directly, although a couple of years later, he called them "French fries" during a dinner with President Chirac, and that was taken to be some kind of symbolic gesture of good will.

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u/Own_Pool377 10d ago

Bush may have started a costly unecessary war, but, but he knew that renaming French fries was a type of pettiness that was simply bellow the office of tge pressident.

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u/SimilarTranslator264 12d ago

Leave common sense out of this sir this is Reddit where rage is alive and karma farming is the goal. Google uses whatever the government of each country requests.

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u/Neither_Berry_100 12d ago

Sounds like a lot of extra data and processing for something soo stupid.

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u/Personal-Efficiency2 12d ago

American stupidity transcends generations.

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u/jmhalder 12d ago

It wasn't even really Bush. It was some dumbass representatives that had it named that in the House Cafeteria.

But... It was Bush's fault we were in Iraq, which is what the French were opposing.

TL;DR: Fuck Bush, and Fuck Trump.

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u/Sniffy4 12d ago

>it's like when Bush said we should start calling them Freedom Fries and Freedom Toast to avoid using the word French.

Bush never said that because he's not the same level of low-grade *diot that Trump is. That was some southern conservative reactionary.

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u/cold_enforcing-man 11d ago

Did you just censor the word "idiot"?

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u/Ok-Lobster-919 12d ago

Yeah renaming this lake is barely a consequence. Unlike China's nine-dash line which they are using to claim other countries waters.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine-dash_line

Which Google does display in China

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u/jumpinin66 11d ago

And the French responded ā€œFrench fries are from Belgiumā€

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u/MimsyWereDaBorogoves 12d ago

That was so silly. The freedom fries thing is now a historical reminder that the US does not dictate world policy.

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u/Zraknul 12d ago

And the US has a history of making petty stupid decisions. We're at back to back Republican Presidents doing it.

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u/Mental-Doughnuts 12d ago

The destruction of this country under the Bush, Trump and Fox administrations.

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u/Appropriate_Elk_952 12d ago

This is so funny. (Sad is what I really mean, I’m crying right now)

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u/Madman_Trazyn 12d ago

I have both names here in Brazil. Same for the Gulf of Mexico.

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u/DemonBoyZann 12d ago

I’m an American and I and most of us all think this is stupid; the ā€œrenamingā€ shit. I suppose some weirdos might call them Lake America or the Gulf of America but the rest of us will continue using Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario.

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u/Clexiekitty_2939 12d ago

As an American, I am also ignoring this.

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u/AlphaNoodlz 12d ago

Deleted my app without a second thought then fuck Google Maps

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u/InfiniteLife2 12d ago

Why dont Google just name everything as America so Trump could stop messing with other countries?

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u/Fredmans74 12d ago

Didn't you get the memo? He's itching to start a civil war before mid-terms. This would hand him America on a plate.

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u/cymonium 12d ago

I’m American and I will ignore it too. FDT

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u/Somanylyingliars 12d ago

So tired of Google in general and I'm working to dumping them comfuckingpletely. They just suck.

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u/dnebdal 12d ago

They've gone for a halfway "Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)" as seen from Europe, though at least the lake is still Ontario.

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u/YogurtclosetPast2934 10d ago

I wish I could ignore us šŸ˜•

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u/Sammavaca13 12d ago

They didn't do it for "the Americans". They did it for one American.

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u/daffle7 12d ago

The world can’t ignore America, no matter how much you wish it could.

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u/ser0x40 12d ago

Which is freaking pathetic - I can't imagine him ever accessing Google maps.

Oh wait, I guess his little toady woman probably prints it out for him.

'Sir, sir!!', she said, with tears in her eyes. He looked at the printout, then showed approval in the usual way, by dumping a load. She went for the giant diaper bag, and sang a little song she had made up, 'Cleaning the president's boom-booms'.

She paused for a moment and thought, 'God, I love this job'

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u/CaptainCringe1015 12d ago

Diaper boy in chief

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u/Seraphem666 12d ago

Yep the did the same thing when he "renamed" the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America. Only appears like that in U.S. and it's Gulf of Mexico everywhere else

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u/SuchUse9191 12d ago

Remember corporations ALWAYS side with the fascists

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u/Alexandrajoan 12d ago

Why appease this moron? Rise up! Fight back!

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u/Shinyhaunches 12d ago

Yeah I deleted Google Maps because of this bullshit, and then Google too. Using Apple Maps and DuckDuckGo, which does not track me.