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Isnt that updated by some national database and google just pulls that data? Apparently Apple Maps will also get it in a few days, since they get the data from

by bitpush 24d ago

Isnt that updated by some national database and google just pulls that data? Apparently Apple Maps will also get it in a few days, since they get the data from them as well.

jvolkman 24d ago
Yes. We had the same comments about Gulf of America. Edit: I don't know that there's an actual database served up by the US Gov, but governments control the naming of these things within their own jurisdictions. All of the big mapping products have the ability to serve up different names based on where you're viewing from. And Apple just renamed: https://apnews.com/article/apple-lake-ontario-america-google-14abb66fe0ecfa05bffd42fb083dc70d https://apnews.com/article/apple-lake-ontario-america-google...
- ericmay 24d ago
  [flagged]
  - nancyminusone 24d ago
    So unimportant that you just have to comment on how unimportant it is
    - ericmay 24d ago
      It’s so unimportant folks are commenting on my comment about how unimportant it is!
- TazeTSchnitzel 24d ago
  https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/search/names https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/searc... GNIS, Geographic Names Information System (Which still shows Lake Ontario for me as I write this. The body of water along the US's southern coast is Gulf of America however.)
  - michchinn 24d ago
    > Per Secretarial Order 3453, Lake Ontario has been renamed to Lake America. The basemaps for GNIS are in the process of being updated to reflect this name change. I see this on the top bar
  - jonas21 24d ago
    The database entry was updated to "Lake America" on August 27: https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/search/names/970427 https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/searc... GNIS renders their own static map tiles, so it may take a while for the update to be reflected on the map itself.
- biophysboy 24d ago
  It makes perfect sense that govs control names within their jurisdiction - I am eyerolling at both the name change and the reaction. I am curious though - is it convention to leave the data as is, or is it illegal to modify it? Regardless, itll just be changed back in 2 years; as long as I can type "lake ontario" and get directed to Lake Ontario, I do not care at all what the gov database calls it currently.
  - sixothree 23d ago
    I wouldn't exactly describe one person as "the government".
    - biophysboy 23d ago
      I mean ... currently I would? The environment will be different soon
    - ThoseWhoSquirm 21d ago
      The president is the government as far as assigning or altering place names is concerned, but only for names not established by an act of Congress. That's why Trump was able to change the name of Denali back to Mount McKinkley; he was simply reversing an Obama-era executive order. But he couldn't rename Denali National Park because that was established by Congress.
  - watwut 23d ago
    > I am eyerolling at both the name change and the reaction. Why do you expect meek reaction in a rename like this? What is eye rolling over reacting to this particular rename?
    - biophysboy 23d ago
      Well, because I expect this to last for two years. Nobody likes it except for birthday boy and his sycophants. All of the signs around Lake Ontario still say the name; same goes for the people that live by it. Google should override it but I don’t expect them to, because theyre selfish and suck. Only thing to do is win elections.
- wbl 24d ago
  The government does not control the words you or I use to refer to things.
- j2kun 23d ago
  It would be nice if Maps would prefer data from government DBs that have localized versions of foreign place name data (e.g., Germany's BKG) when available.
- bigstrat2003 23d ago
  > governments control the naming of these things within their own jurisdictions No they don't. People can, and should, call things what they want without deference to government overreach.
  - ThoseWhoSquirm 21d ago
    We can do that for ourselves, but it's a lot harder for the operator of a massive maps platform, based from its inception on the use of the federally controlled GNIS, to just call things what they want, or even what most of their users want things to be called. For once I'm posting about this in a forum where I can reasonably expect that most users will understand the technical difficulties that would arise if Google wanted to avoid using the new names. The average person seems to believe that Google can change the toponyms back to Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario as easily as taking down a road sign and nailing up a different one.
bee_rider 24d ago
Seems like something that should be user-configurable (like DNS servers). While the recent annoying renamings have drawn attention to the issue, landmark names have basically always been political.
spogbiper 24d ago
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/apple-maps-changes-name-lake-ontario-lake-america-2026-09-01/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/apple-maps-changes-name-lak... Apple updated it yesterday. If I were Google I'd turn down that refresh rate and let someone else take the bad PR next time
- lotsofpulp 24d ago
  There is no bad PR, 99% of people don’t care.
avs733 24d ago
I have been wondering this as well. I cannot imagine having this be autoupdated without review from a centralized database is a good idea. This is a process that needs to be frangible and have some friction in it. In this day and age, GPS mapping tools have major implications for societal function, safety, economics, national security, healthcare, etc. I'm struggling to think of an industry where a sudden absence/subtle changes of named GPS mapping data would not have an effect. If everyone relied on the same data base which could push changes to the map in the pocket of every resident of a nation that would be the first thing I would think to hack. Probably easier than actually jamming or spoofing GPS/GNSS over a huge area.
- bpodgursky 24d ago
  There are thousands of small street changes across the country each day. New subdivisions, road expansions, lane changes, new traffic lights. Of course the vast majority should be auto-updated without manual review, what would a person add to the process? The public database is the system of record in the first place.
- GJim 23d ago
  > GPS mapping tools You mean GPS (or rather GNSS) navigation tools. GPS != map

by bitpush 24d ago

Isnt that updated by some national database and google just pulls that data? Apparently Apple Maps will also get it in a few days, since they get the data from them as well.

jvolkman 24d ago

Yes. We had the same comments about Gulf of America. Edit: I don't know that there's an actual database served up by the US Gov, but governments control the naming of these things within their own jurisdictions. All of the big mapping products have the ability to serve up different names based on where you're viewing from. And Apple just renamed: https://apnews.com/article/apple-lake-ontario-america-google-14abb66fe0ecfa05bffd42fb083dc70d https://apnews.com/article/apple-lake-ontario-america-google...

ericmay 24d ago
[flagged]
- nancyminusone 24d ago
  So unimportant that you just have to comment on how unimportant it is
  - ericmay 24d ago
    It’s so unimportant folks are commenting on my comment about how unimportant it is!
TazeTSchnitzel 24d ago
https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/search/names https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/searc... GNIS, Geographic Names Information System (Which still shows Lake Ontario for me as I write this. The body of water along the US's southern coast is Gulf of America however.)
- michchinn 24d ago
  > Per Secretarial Order 3453, Lake Ontario has been renamed to Lake America. The basemaps for GNIS are in the process of being updated to reflect this name change. I see this on the top bar
- jonas21 24d ago
  The database entry was updated to "Lake America" on August 27: https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/search/names/970427 https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/searc... GNIS renders their own static map tiles, so it may take a while for the update to be reflected on the map itself.
biophysboy 24d ago
It makes perfect sense that govs control names within their jurisdiction - I am eyerolling at both the name change and the reaction. I am curious though - is it convention to leave the data as is, or is it illegal to modify it? Regardless, itll just be changed back in 2 years; as long as I can type "lake ontario" and get directed to Lake Ontario, I do not care at all what the gov database calls it currently.
- sixothree 23d ago
  I wouldn't exactly describe one person as "the government".
  - biophysboy 23d ago
    I mean ... currently I would? The environment will be different soon
  - ThoseWhoSquirm 21d ago
    The president is the government as far as assigning or altering place names is concerned, but only for names not established by an act of Congress. That's why Trump was able to change the name of Denali back to Mount McKinkley; he was simply reversing an Obama-era executive order. But he couldn't rename Denali National Park because that was established by Congress.
- watwut 23d ago
  > I am eyerolling at both the name change and the reaction. Why do you expect meek reaction in a rename like this? What is eye rolling over reacting to this particular rename?
  - biophysboy 23d ago
    Well, because I expect this to last for two years. Nobody likes it except for birthday boy and his sycophants. All of the signs around Lake Ontario still say the name; same goes for the people that live by it. Google should override it but I don’t expect them to, because theyre selfish and suck. Only thing to do is win elections.
wbl 24d ago
The government does not control the words you or I use to refer to things.
j2kun 23d ago
It would be nice if Maps would prefer data from government DBs that have localized versions of foreign place name data (e.g., Germany's BKG) when available.
bigstrat2003 23d ago
> governments control the naming of these things within their own jurisdictions No they don't. People can, and should, call things what they want without deference to government overreach.
- ThoseWhoSquirm 21d ago
  We can do that for ourselves, but it's a lot harder for the operator of a massive maps platform, based from its inception on the use of the federally controlled GNIS, to just call things what they want, or even what most of their users want things to be called. For once I'm posting about this in a forum where I can reasonably expect that most users will understand the technical difficulties that would arise if Google wanted to avoid using the new names. The average person seems to believe that Google can change the toponyms back to Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario as easily as taking down a road sign and nailing up a different one.

bee_rider 24d ago

Seems like something that should be user-configurable (like DNS servers). While the recent annoying renamings have drawn attention to the issue, landmark names have basically always been political.

spogbiper 24d ago

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/apple-maps-changes-name-lake-ontario-lake-america-2026-09-01/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/apple-maps-changes-name-lak... Apple updated it yesterday. If I were Google I'd turn down that refresh rate and let someone else take the bad PR next time

lotsofpulp 24d ago
There is no bad PR, 99% of people don’t care.

avs733 24d ago

I have been wondering this as well. I cannot imagine having this be autoupdated without review from a centralized database is a good idea. This is a process that needs to be frangible and have some friction in it. In this day and age, GPS mapping tools have major implications for societal function, safety, economics, national security, healthcare, etc. I'm struggling to think of an industry where a sudden absence/subtle changes of named GPS mapping data would not have an effect. If everyone relied on the same data base which could push changes to the map in the pocket of every resident of a nation that would be the first thing I would think to hack. Probably easier than actually jamming or spoofing GPS/GNSS over a huge area.

bpodgursky 24d ago
There are thousands of small street changes across the country each day. New subdivisions, road expansions, lane changes, new traffic lights. Of course the vast majority should be auto-updated without manual review, what would a person add to the process? The public database is the system of record in the first place.
GJim 23d ago
> GPS mapping tools You mean GPS (or rather GNSS) navigation tools. GPS != map