MapQuest Gains Popularity as Google Renames Lake Ontario to Lake America

POLICY WIRE — Washington, D.C. — MapQuest has experienced a significant increase in its App Store rankings following Google’s decision to comply with President Donald Trump’s directive to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America.

The renaming occurred after trade negotiations between the U.S. and Canada collapsed earlier this month. Trump issued an executive order to change the name of Lake Ontario, situated between the Canadian province of Ontario and New York, to Lake America.

Upon signing the order last Thursday, MapQuest declared on X, “We’re not changing it,” accompanied by a map displaying the body of water as Lake Ontario.

MapQuest, established in 1996, witnessed a surge in its popularity for resisting Trump’s executive order. As of Sunday night, it became the top navigation app and the eighth most downloaded free app in the App Store, achieving its highest ranking in its 30-year history, according to a recent press release.

Since MapQuest’s defiance of Trump’s order last Thursday, not only have downloads increased, but user engagement with the brand’s apps has risen by approximately 50 times the usual rate.

Doug Berger, general manager of MapQuest, stated, We adopted the same strategy we used with the Gulf of Mexico: engage in the conversation and provide users with an app that retains familiar names.

He added, Hundreds of thousands of people indicated this weekend that we made the right choice by downloading our app.

This marks the third contentious geographic name change by the president, following the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and North America’s tallest peak, Denali in Alaska, back to Mount McKinley during his second term.

Google Maps chose a different path than MapQuest, agreeing to change Lake Ontario to Lake America for U.S. users. Canadians will continue to see Lake Ontario on Google Maps, while users in other countries will see both names.

In a blog post on Saturday, Google explained that the change was made because the U.S. Geographic Names Information System had updated the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, and “we update Google Maps to reflect name changes in official government sources.”

Similarly, when Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, Google Maps updated it for U.S. users, kept it for those in Mexico, and used both names for everyone else.

Critics accused Google of yielding to Trump after changing the name of Lake Ontario. MeidasTouch, a progressive media company, wrote on X, Google Maps has now capitulated to Donald Trump and changed the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America. Eric Reguly, a Canadian newspaper columnist, tweeted, Time to stop using @Google Cowards.

Apple, which changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico on its Maps app following Trump’s January 2025 executive order, had not yet renamed Lake Ontario as of Monday afternoon. However, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum anticipates that Apple Maps will soon change the name to Lake America.

I know that the president contacted Apple directly, so I’m sure we may see that change coming up soon to Lake America, Burgum told host Cheryl Casone, filling in for Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria earlier Monday.

Meanwhile, Trump’s trade war with Canada has intensified with a 50 percent tariff on approximately $20 billion of Canadian imports, as reported by the Associated Press. In response, Canadian officials threatened to impose “dollar-for-dollar” tariffs on American goods, including steel, electronics, and dairy, starting September 8.

Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)