{"id":376427,"date":"2026-08-31T01:52:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T08:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/?p=376427"},"modified":"2026-08-31T01:52:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T08:52:01","slug":"google-maps-now-calls-lake-ontario-lake-america-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/google-maps-now-calls-lake-ontario-lake-america-in-the-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Maps now calls Lake Ontario \u2018Lake America\u2019 in the US"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google Maps<\/a> has started labeling Lake Ontario as \u201cLake America\u201d for people in the United States. In Canada, it still appears as \u201cLake Ontario,\u201d and in many other places it shows up as \u201cLake Ontario (Lake America).\u201d Google says the change came after the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) was updated following an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump. It\u2019s the same<\/strong> country-by-country naming approach Google Maps used earlier in 2025 for the Gulf of Mexico. Still, Lake Ontario is shared by the US and Canada, and a naming change on the US side doesn\u2019t change Canada\u2019s official name for it or resolve the international one.<\/p>\n

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The backlash was<\/strong> immediate. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney objected. So did Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who went as far as unveiling a \u201cLake Ontario. Now and forever\u201d sign. New York Governor Kathy Hochul pushed back too, and reports say Vermont Governor Phil Scott did as well. Some Ontario government and business websites that embed Google Maps are now reviewing pages where the new label appears.<\/p>\n\n

Critics have pointed out that \u201cLake Ontario\u201d comes from the Wendat word \u201cOntari\u2019io\u201d and has been in use for more than 400 years<\/strong>. Apple Maps<\/a>, as of now, hadn\u2019t made the switch. MapQuest<\/a> said it wouldn\u2019t, either.<\/p>\n\n

If you use Google Maps regularly, this matters for a pretty simple reason: it shows how digital maps now handle disputed or politically charged<\/strong> names based on where the viewer is. And yes, you can already see the label in Google Maps, both on the web and on mobile.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Google Maps has started labeling Lake Ontario as \u201cLake America\u201d for people in the United States. In Canada, it still appears as \u201cLake Ontario,\u201d and in many other places it shows up as \u201cLake Ontario (Lake America).\u201d Google says the change came after the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) was updated following an executive order … Continue reading “Google Maps now calls Lake Ontario \u2018Lake America\u2019 in the US”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9322,"featured_media":376426,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1015],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-376427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376427"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":376428,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376427\/revisions\/376428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376427"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=376427"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=376427"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=376427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}