SUMMARYGoogle Maps changed the label for Lake Ontario to “Lake America” for users in the United States after a U.S. geographic naming update, while users in Canada still see Lake Ontario and users elsewhere see both names. Ontario’s premier responded with a billboard defending the lake’s original name, and MapQuest said it would keep its own label unchanged while adding a user-renaming tool.
It's already happened - at least on Google Maps.
Google's online maps reflect name changes in official government sources, Google posted Saturday. So when the U.S. Geographic Names Information System formally changed the name for "Lake Ontario" to "Lake America," Google also renamed it "Lake America" - for visitors from the U.S.
"Those in Canada will continue to see 'Lake Ontario'," Google said.
And people from every other country in the world... "will see both names." Though here's how it will be written...
Lake Ontario (Lake America)
"These updates follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country, and are starting to roll out now."
Meanwhile, NPR reports that Ontario's Premier posted a billboard reading "Lake Ontario - Now and Always" on Canada's side of the lake (repeating the message in French). And The Daily Beast reports Google move has also drawn some criticism online:
"Hey you gave one of the Great Lakes the wrong name; pretty embarrassing mistake so you might want to fix that," one user wrote on X...
MapQuest has said it will not be changing the name, and instead launched a new tool that allows users to rename it themselves to whatever they want.