The battle of the maps: Google and Apple swap Lake Ontario for Lake America and their competitor’s app skyrockets

Apple has also changed the name Lake Ontario to Lake America in its map service. The platform follows Google’s decision to comply with Donald Trump’s executive order to change the official name of the lake between the United States and Canada. The U.S. president made the decision as retaliation for the trade war between the two neighbors, traditional allies until the Republican arrived at the White House.

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The change is currently only shown to residents in the U.S. In the rest of the world, Apple Maps still gives “Lake Ontario” as the only result and Google Maps returns both names: “Lake Ontario (Lake America)”. Google has said its decision is because it follows the official designation of the U.S. government. In Canada, they have kept the traditional official name: Lake Ontario.

This controversy has allowed a small competitor, MapQuest, to climb to the number 1 spot in downloads on the U.S. App Store, a sign of protest against the big tech companies for bowing to Trump’s whims. The app was a pioneer in online maps, but it lost popularity years ago and has less widespread use among the general public.

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“We have taken the same approach as with the Gulf of Mexico: engage in the conversation and offer people an app that retains the names they are familiar with,” said Doug Berger, CEO of MapQuest. “Hundreds of thousands of people have told us we got it right and have downloaded our app,” he adds.

As Berger mentions, this is not the first time a similar controversy has occurred. In February 2025, Trump ordered the name change of the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America. Google Maps still shows both names today for global users.

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