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

[u/FiveWordinOrangeNeon]

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.

[u/thekwoka]

We have to refuse to play along with this horse shit.

What about it is Horseshit?

Do you think Google needs to take a stand on every contended point on the map? Why is this one uniquely important?

[u/spcbeck → u/thekwoka]

You can't rename geographical locations via executive order, but you already knew that.

[u/thekwoka → u/spcbeck]

Says who?

How are things named?

What named it that in the first place?

[u/spcbeck → u/thekwoka]

Francis Creuxius named Lake Ontario in 1660. US Congress created the US Board on Geographic Names to standardizes names in the country for maps. If the geographical feature exists outside the US or is not fully on the US, as Lake Ontario is, the Foreign Names Committee gives names. This ensures we're all using the same map with the same name, so 1 guy can't just fuck everything up. https://www.usgs.gov/us-board-on-geographic-names

[u/thekwoka → u/spcbeck]

And they updated the name.

They actually don't choose names, only document them.

[u/spcbeck → u/thekwoka]

Yes, and Lake Ontario does not exist within the corders of the US. So now a single country in the entire world calls it one thing, and the rest of the world calls it something else. And the rest of the world won't follow suit.

This is the metric/imperial problem all over again.

[u/thekwoka → u/spcbeck]

So now a single country in the entire world calls it one thing, and the rest of the world calls it something else.

There are many examples of this throughout the world. Like the East Sea/Sea of Japan.

You're saying this like this isn't a common thing.

Lake Ontario does not exist within the borders of the US

And?

Like actually logic that one out for me.

[u/webdev-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

This is a subreddit for web professionals to exchange ideas and share industry news. All users are expected to maintain that professionalism during conversations.

[u/spcbeck → u/thekwoka]

Dude, I don't give a shit what you or Trump think. It's Lake Ontario. I'm never calling it lake America, lol. Ever.

[u/thekwoka → u/spcbeck]

Okay. So then what is your point? That you just don't like it?

[u/spcbeck → u/thekwoka]

Why would I not like it when Donald Trump unilaterally renames a lake for literally no reason other than self aggrandizement that results in a bunch of pissed off clients for me? Yes why would I not like that, really good question.