704
The 'OG' online map platform, MapQuest, says it won't change the name of Lake Ontario
(www.businessinsider.com)
this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2026
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It's not that MapQuest won't change it, it's that the name hasn't changed.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure the United States can't change the name of a body of water that's shared between multiple countries. If it's not that, it still hasn't gotten any sort of congressional approval.
Edit: Lake Michigan is the only one that's fully within the US. The others are patrolled by both the US Coast Guard and the Canadian Coast Guard, both have the ability to arrest anyone on either side of the border. The state governments that border the lakes have some power over them, but they're held in trust for public use. The International Joint Commission resolves any disputes regarding them. I'm not quite sure what would have to go into changing the name of Lake Ontario, but it would at least require Canadian approval and US congressional approval, perhaps even approval from the state of New York and the province of Ontario. Oh yeah, this is also completely stupid and should under no circumstances actually happen.
That sounds nice.
If Trump really wants to turn the screws, he can make it a requirement of federal contracts that all contractors use maps that comply with his infantile demmands.
I think you're kind of living in a pre-Trump reality where laws and procedures means something. It's a super bad idea to feel comfortable with this administration because something they want to do is technically illegal. Everything is up for grabs right now.
I partly just thought that going over what it would require could be interesting. You're right, he can try to make contractors do that. But that doesn't mean that citizens of either country are actually going to honor the name. Sure, Google and Apple will change their maps to suck him off, but nearly nobody is ever going to unironically call it Lake America. I live in Alabama, a deeply conservative state that borders the Gulf of Mexico. Even here, nobody calls it the Gulf of America. Odds are, he'll forget about this shit just as quickly.