Google Maps has begun displaying Lake Ontario as “Lake America” for users in the United States, following an executive order from President Trump renaming the lake. Apple Maps has not made the change and still shows “Lake Ontario” to U.S. users.
Lake Ontario forms part of the border between New York State and the Canadian province of Ontario, making the naming dispute a direct local issue for New Yorkers who rely on these apps for travel, boating and daily navigation.
According to 9to5Mac, Google now displays “Lake America” within the United States, “Lake Ontario” within Canada, and “Lake Ontario (Lake America)” for users elsewhere in the world. A Google spokesperson said the approach follows the company’s “long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country.”
Apple has kept the original name in place for now. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum told Fox News that “the President has reached out to Apple directly,” and said he expects “we may be seeing that change coming up soon.”
The update has already caused confusion on the Canadian side of the border. Some Ontario provincial government and business websites that pull location data from Google Maps began displaying “Lake America” after the change took effect. A Google spokesperson told Axios that website developers who embed Google Maps can select a region to localize how names appear, which is how the altered label ended up on Ontario’s own government pages.
Stephen Crawford, Ontario’s minister of public and business service delivery and procurement, said in a posted statement: “Following recent changes by Google, we’re actively reviewing our websites to make sure they all identify Lake Ontario by its correct name: Lake Ontario. As Ontarians, we will always stand up for our province, our identity and the places that define it.”
Not every mapping service has adopted the new name. MapQuest posted a screenshot on social media last week showing the lake still labeled “Lake Ontario,” with the caption “We’re not changing it.”
For now, the discrepancy means New Yorkers checking directions or weather along the lake may see two different names depending on which app is open — a small but visible sign of the broader dispute over the renaming order.
