Google Maps Changes ‘Lake Ontario’ to ‘Lake America’ for U.S. Users

Google announced on Saturday that the lake, which borders the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of New York, will appear as “Lake America” in the U.S., “Lake Ontario” in Canada, and “Lake Ontario (Lake America)” for users in the rest of the world. The company said it changed the maps following the formal renaming by the U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), and that the update is in line with its “long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country.”The change has divided tech companies.MapQuest, the first commercial web mapping service, said in a Thursday post, “We’re not changing the name of Lake Ontario. Name it whatever you want at your leisure.” The post included a link to a satirical tool allowing users to give the lake a name of their choosing and an image of a parody map labeling the body of water, “Lake Are We Doing This Again?”As of Sunday, Apple had not changed the name on Apple Maps.Lake Ontario/AmericaThe name change has faced significant opposition from Democrats. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D, Mich.) announced plans to introduce the “Hands Off Our Great Lakes Act,” a bill that would reverse Trump’s order renaming th...