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MapQuest Rises After Refusing Lake Ontario Rename; Apple Faces Pressure

MapQuest tops navigation charts after refusing Trump's Lake Ontario rename; Apple resists, Google complies.

AI News Feed · 2026-08-31 23:20

The order came as trade talks between the U.S. and Canada broke down, with Trump imposing new 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods and Canada vowing to retaliate. According to 9to5Mac, Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled a billboard on the lake’s shoreline reading “Lake Ontario. Now and always.” Canada and much of the world responded with amusement and mockery.

Google Maps has already updated its naming, but the label depends on the viewer’s location. A Google blog post, cited by the Associated Press, states that its policy is to use names assigned by the U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). U.S. users see “Lake America,” Canadian users see “Lake Ontario,” and users elsewhere see both names. This mirrors Google’s approach to the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump renamed the Gulf of America last year.

Apple Maps, however, has not changed the name for any users. The company has also not issued a statement. But U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a Fox Business interview that “the president reached out to Apple directly, so I’m sure that we may be seeing that change coming up soon to Lake America,” according to 9to5Mac.

MapQuest, a 30-year-old online mapping service, announced Thursday that it would not change the name on its maps. Its app has since seen a huge surge in downloads. According to TechCrunch, the iOS app reached No. 4 on the U.S. App Store’s Top Charts among apps excluding games as of Monday morning, No. 8 overall across both apps and games, and No. 1 in the Navigation category. In Canada, the app reached No. 2 overall as of Sunday evening. The company said it received “hundreds of thousands” of new downloads and usage climbed to 50 times above normal levels. General Manager Doug Berger said, “We took the same approach we did with the Gulf of Mexico: be part of the conversation, and give people an app that keeps the names they’re familiar with.” MapQuest also released an online tool that lets users rename the lake jokingly and share results on social media, similar to a tool it offered for the Gulf last year.

Both Apple Maps and Google Maps previously changed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America after Trump’s similar order in 2025. MapQuest, which has changed ownership several times, is now owned by internet advertising company System1.