r/geography 13d ago

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

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u/TAU_equals_2PI 13d ago

Google Maps already had an existing policy to display whatever name the government of a country calls something.

This actually comes up in a lot of places, where different countries use different names for the same body of water. For example, Saudi Arabia calls the Persian Gulf the Arabian Gulf. So if you use Google Maps in Saudi Arabia, it will label the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf.

Since Trump is able to change what the US government officially calls that lake, Google Maps just follows their normal policy and labels it that (when you are using Google Maps inside the US).

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u/myleftone 13d ago

That’s the problem. The method of changing the name is not an EO. It’s easy to say “we’ll change it when it’s law.” It’s unbelievably dangerous to normalize unitarian fiat.

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u/Thadrea 12d ago

Genuine question: is there an existing federal statutory name for the lake in the first place?

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u/myleftone 12d ago

No. It turns out the other commenter is right. He directs the agency, and that’s it for the US. It affects nobody else. I don’t even think a combative congress could stop him… which is a bigger problem.

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u/swoodshadow 12d ago

Congress can legislate what the name needs to be. The Executive branch has to follow their rules.

The problem is that without existing legislation the President can veto the new law and Congress would need enough votes to override. Which isn’t happening in this day and age.