Join the discussion
Write your take first — we'll ask for email only when you're ready to publish.
- Hacker News
- Some important notes
- Google updated their maps faster than the USGS. https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/ shows Lake Ontario
- Google made this decision, there is nothing automated about this
- Apple will do this as well
- Nothing requires either of them to do this.
- This is the same as Cook giving gold to Trump, tech CEOs showing up at the inauguration, ballroom donations etc. That is, simple open bribery.
- While Googlers are probably against this, their opinions are moo (like a cow's opinion). Sergey and Sundar love this.
- Yep. They're open and obvious about it.by mrhottakes
- I guess my only question is, what does Digital Ocean have to do with any of this?
If the author’s goal is to sever ties with all American companies that he possibly can, I think the post could have been a little more clear about that.
by Eric_WVGG - Well, to some of us in Europe, Trump is just the true face of America. The vanity, the arrogance, the greed, the vindictiveness, the kiss-the-ring shit - none of it is truly new for anyone who looks at american foreign policy through the lens of one of its recipients. With him, it's just finally focused in one person.by rf15
- Well, he did get elected so...by stanski
- Can someone clarify for me: This isn’t actually something a president can do or compel, right? There is no act I’m aware of that makes the President the Geography Czar. I picture the next Dem president (God willing), not changing it back, but issuing a statement saying that the name never actually changed just because the last twat said so.
- Exec branch has the authority to direct the U.S. Board on Geographic Names as it's under the US Dept of the Interior.
That does mean the U.S. Gov't / federal depts have to use the recommendation from the board I believe as they control the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), and it cascades from there.
So technically yes. That being said, I think Trump had the Board undo some of the changes the board enacted under Biden so it will likely just flow back.
by peezd - Here [1] is a document (there is a PDF link on the page, since it's on AWS I don't think the direct link is persistent) describing how the BGN sources the names, the relevant part for you is this:
"Geographic names and their applications specifically established by an act of Congress, Executive order, Treaty, or Federal proclamation are official by law."
1. https://www.usgs.gov/media/files/us-board-geographic-names-p...
by pandaman - This president’s view appears to be that if it happens in the executive branch he has 100% arbitrary personal control over it. He’s the CEO of the government and he makes the calls. If someone claims there’s a legal reason he can’t do it, he has mediocre but prolific lawyers to deal with that.
He’s worked this way for decades; why stop now just because he’s got a new job?
by wrs - Thou shalt honor the "Epstein Distraction Act of 2025"
Haven't heard of it?
It's on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard’.”
Everything, everything, everything since Jan 2025 is meant to distract from his involvement with Epstein, and quite a few bigwigs. You might have a new CEO when all this leaks, and civil suits are hot on the money trail.
by k310 - This should be the new norm. Vote with your wallet.by ramijames
- Yup! Our biggest vote in life is where we put our feet and where we spend our money. It has always been this way but it is more important than ever that people learn to think this way.by halsafar
- I think, by now, what offends me the most is how unoriginal “Lake America” is as a name.by brightbeige
- You have no idea how hard it was to talk him out of "Lake Trump". Just be glad it's not that.by DonHopkins
- I treat the lakes the same as roads. A road's name doesn't tell you where you are. It tells you where you are going. If the road leading out of your town happens to share a name with a neighboring town, it isn't named as an honor. If you are bothered by the name, just walk to the end of the road and its name will have changed to where you just came from.
If you are in America and want to cross water to get to Mexico, you just need to use the Gulf of Mexico. If you want to get to Ontario, find Lake Ontario. You'll never be lost.
by fhdkweig - About the same level of creativity as "Freedom Fries"by morkalork
- its been fun to watch the resurgence of mapquest. first their refusal to rename the gulf of mexico, and now lake ontario, has absolutely skyrocketed their popularity (currently showing as the #1 free app on the apple app store)
- If you want to retaliate against this US administration avoid buying stuff exported by red states. The rest of us can't wait for this admin to be over.by petilon
- Canada also has leverage over toilet paper. 29% of USA crude comes from Canada with the Midwest and Rocky Mountains especially dependent.by enoint
- Gavin Newsom might be president in 3 years and is on record saying he wouldn't remove some of the tariffs.
Retaliatory tariffs need to apply to blue states too.
by bryanlarsen - I don't think we can be that reductive. Plenty of the US technology industry is concentrated in blue states like California, Washington, and New York. Likewise, I don't think all blue states can be considered equally resistant to the excesses of the federal government. I'm not going to go so far as to say "never buy American," but I am going to say that as with any boycott it takes research and diligence to decide who does and doesn't align with your values.
- Why do you think blue states deserve a pass? All of you are Americans, all of you have a part in what’s happened. Is this not what democracy means?by talentedcoin
- It’s astonishing to me that no one pointed out what a self-own changing the “O” in the acronym of Great Lakes to an “A” would be. Every school child is going to learn SHAME until this is reverted or further changed.by jonhohle
- Glad to see this on HN. This Canadian is doing something similar. In fact, anything I do that involves sending money to the USA, I am re-evaluating.by talentedcoin
- I just don't get why they didn't go with OVH in Montreal or something like that. Odd to switch to EU in my opinion. I'm currently using OVH in Montreal for many years and never had any issues.by Fogest
- I was all set to come and give Google the benefit of the doubt that they were just subscribed to the GNIS database[1], and that if the executive branch issued an order, then other governmental agencies were required to adhere to them. But when I popped open the GNIS[2] map, and it still shows Lake Ontario on the map image, even if searching "Lake America" shows a bunch of pins on the US side. Kinda wild.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_Names_Information_S...
2. https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/searc...
by eddieroger - They just haven't re-rendered the map tiles yet. See the hurricane banner here [1]. "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."
[1] https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/gaz-r...
by tedd4u - > The breathtaking speed with which Google Maps happily gets on board with this lunacy
Something interesting I learned at National Geographic is that they have a geographer (titled: "The Geographer", which always seemed impossibly cool to me) and that the geographer maintains several maps of certain areas so that their field photographers and agents are aware of where they are in relation to "the real world", to know when they're in contested territories, and also to be able to theoretically show the wrong map if they get in trouble to show "It wasn't me, blame my shoddy map!" to provide cover
Nothing I know about Google informs me that anyone there is thrilled about the change either, but it's probably one of the easier compliance-swaps they have to engage in, despite how inane it surely is
by bmelton - > it's probably one of the easier compliance-swaps they have to engage
It's the corporate equivalent of lacking boundaries and failing to maintain emotional maturity.
Everybody has to say 'no' sometimes in order to be awesome and capable. Corporations need to say 'no' to governments far more often than they do.
We all have fears that saying 'no' to a narcissist will lead to retaliation; having boundaries despite that fear is what keeps us healthy.
by jMyles - Ok, but the president's executive order does not officially change the name of a place or feature. In the US, that function is overseen by the Board on Geographic Names. While they did enact a change for the Gulf of Mexico (now the Gulf of America in US documentation), it doesn't happen immediately. While I imagine the BGN will update Lake Ontario eventually as well, Google tips their hand as being eager to please the admin by updating their maps before there is a corresponding change from the appropriate governing authority.
We can't even accuse Google of consistency, because they show Türkiye as Türkiye, for example, even though (as far as I can tell) the US Gov still uses Turkey.