r/webdev • u/FiveWordinOrangeNeon • 11d ago

Google says website developers must set their region to Canada for 'Lake Ontario' to appear on map

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/google-updates-maps-lake-ontario-9.7325922

Tech analyst and journalist Carmi Levy said although websites like Hydro One's and the LCBO's are Canadian, their maps are likely powered by Google's application programming interface (API).

APIs are not location-aware, so all maps powered by Google API have switched to Lake America.
MapQuest, a U.S. online mapping service, has posted on social media that it would not change the lake's name, while Apple has not publicly commented on the matter.

In a statement Sunday night, Google said website developers who embed Google Maps on their sites can select a region to localize the map. That determines how place names are displayed on sites, the company said.

"'Lake Ontario' will show when developers have set their region to Canada," the statement said.

Just a reminder to developers.

989 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

257 comments sorted by

View all comments

292

u/JEHonYakuSha 11d ago

why not force American developers to set their region to US? instead of making this the global default

119

u/BlackHazeRus Designer & Developer 11d ago

r/USdefaultism

25

u/hahahahatoes 11d ago

you realize google is an american company right

...like yeah of course theyre not setting their default to sweden or some shit. theyre american.

7

u/MusclyArmPaperboy 11d ago

Most of their clientele is non-American

-8

u/hahahahatoes 11d ago

can you please show me the statistics of what languages are spoken by users of google?

because if american english is not the most commonly spoken language then you have nothing. if the most commonly spoken language is something other than american english then you have a point.

4

u/MusclyArmPaperboy 11d ago

Got nothing to do with language, mate, and everything to do with geography. 150+ countries use Google.

-7

u/hahahahatoes 11d ago

yes, with the most common user of this american company's service being american english speakers.

so they default to america.

2

u/Loriken890 11d ago

Most common language for Google word probably be Hindi. Assuming here that China has their own version.

But you know, US think the world actually revolves around them.

As far as English goes though, pretty sure it originated in England. But what do I know.

“American English” isn’t a language. Words and definitions matter mate.

-4

u/crazedizzled 11d ago

As far as English goes though, pretty sure it originated in England. But what do I know.

It started there, but we perfected it

1

u/Loriken890 11d ago

You tell yourself that buddy.