What's this about?
The US Geographic Names Information System has renamed Lake Ontario to "Lake America", and Google published an explanation of how the change will appear on Google Maps. hardmaru responded with a list: "I'll always call 'em by their real names: Google (not Alphabet), Facebook (not Meta), Twitter (not 𝕏), Lake Ontario (not Lake America)" — and noted the next day that Apple Maps still says Lake Ontario.
Why does a map provider have to explain a rename?
Because GNIS is a US government database, and Lake Ontario is shared with Canada, which has its own naming authority and has not renamed anything. So the two official sources now disagree, and every mapping product has to choose: show the US name, the Canadian name, both, or one depending on where the viewer is. Google's usual answer is the last of these, which means the map you see depends on where you are — a small, permanent fracture in what used to be shared reference data.
Why is it worth noticing?
- It is a clean example of a fact becoming jurisdiction-dependent, which is a problem for anything trained on or reasoning over reference data.
- The refusal-to-adopt response is a form of protest that only works while enough people remember the previous name.
- Apple Maps not following is the detail people found most satisfying, and a reminder that these are editorial decisions.