A wave

Written by

Ophelia Benson

in

Lake Whatnow?

Google Maps has faced a wave of negative reviews and comments after changing the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” for users in the United States.

…

Google began displaying “Lake America” after the Trump administration entered the name into federal geographic records. U.S. users see the new designation, Canadian users continue to see “Lake Ontario,” and users elsewhere see both names, according to Google.

The company said the update followed its long-standing practice of using names provided by official government sources.

Official how? If a fire department in Cedar Rapids, Iowa renamed the Mississippi River would Google change the map?

To be sure, the presidency is a high office, but that doesn’t mean Trump is simply a dictator. Trump saying something does not automatically create new law. It’s not at all clear to me that he gets to wake up one morning and change the name of Lake Ontario. It’s not his lake.

Comments

2 responses to “A wave”

  1. Sumi Avatar
    Sumi

    Google’s claim to be following US geographical records is a lie. As of September 5 , the official US national map still shows Lake Ontario, with a note that this will be changing.

    Trump signed his executive order on August 27, but an EO isn’t official until published in the Federal Register, which happened on September 2. The Secretary of the Interior then has 30 days to implement the order and subsequently update the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) to reflect the renaming.

    This hasn’t happened yet, so Google was simply sucking up to Trump by renaming the lake the day after he signed the EO.

  2. Sackbut Avatar
    Sackbut

    Google gets their data in part from the US Geographical Names Information System (GNIS). The web page for GNIS states “Per Secretarial Order 3453, Lake Ontario has been renamed to Lake America. The basemaps for GNIS are in the process of being updated to reflect this name change.”

    https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/search/names

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More posts