Numerous Canadian websites, including those for government entities, exhibited maps featuring Lake Ontario rebranded as Lake America on Sunday. This adjustment came in the wake of Google Maps’ decision to reflect a U.S. government executive order issued by President Donald Trump.
Google clarified in a statement on Saturday that it implemented the change as the U.S. government’s official geographic names database had formally rechristened the lake. While Google asserted that the alteration would impact solely U.S. users, several Ontario and Canadian websites seemed to showcase Lake America on their maps.
Among the affected platforms were Hydro One’s outage map, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) store locator, GO Transit’s station finder, and the federal government’s housing and infrastructure map. Hydro One acknowledged the error, attributing it to a third-party mapping service and actively working to rectify the issue promptly.
Metrolinx, the Ontario government agency overseeing GO Transit, acknowledged the situation and confirmed efforts to ensure accurate labeling of Lake Ontario. By Sunday evening, the problematic GO Transit map had been disabled, and the LCBO map had reverted to displaying Lake Ontario.
In response to the controversy, Google stated that website developers embedding Google Maps could customize regional settings to display appropriate place names. Notably, when developers set their region to Canada, the map would correctly label the body of water as Lake Ontario.
Tech expert Carmi Levy explained that despite the websites being Canadian, their maps likely relied on Google’s application programming interface (API), which is not location-aware. Levy emphasized the importance of developers selecting Canada as their region to avoid such discrepancies, although he acknowledged that awareness and technical expertise varied among users.
Google’s search index update globally introduced Lake America as a searchable term, but users within Canada should still see Lake Ontario by default. The absence of a Canadian mapping equivalent or mapping APIs underscores the country’s reliance on American technology, according to Levy.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford condemned the name change, expressing confidence that Lake Ontario’s historical identity would persist. The ongoing tensions between Canada and the U.S. have escalated since failed trade negotiations, resulting in retaliatory measures and strained relations between the two nations.
Trump’s executive order to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America follows a similar directive last year renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Despite being limited to U.S. federal documents and services, online map services have adopted the changes, leading to inconsistencies in naming conventions across various platforms.