Several Canadian websites, including those for the federal government, exhibited maps showcasing Lake Ontario as Lake America on Sunday, following Google Maps’ adjustment to comply with a directive from U.S. President Donald Trump. Google stated in a post on its corporate site on Saturday that it made the alteration in line with the U.S. government’s updated geographic names database.
Although Google mentioned that the modification would impact only U.S. users, various Ontario and Canadian websites featured Lake America on their maps. Some of these sites included Hydro One’s outage map, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) store locator, GO Transit’s station finder, and the federal government’s housing and infrastructure map.
Hydro One acknowledged the error, attributing the mislabeling of Lake Ontario on its outage map to a third-party mapping service. The utility company is actively collaborating with its vendor to rectify the issue promptly and restore the accurate geographic reference.
Meanwhile, Metrolinx, the Ontario government agency overseeing GO Transit, confirmed awareness of the situation and stated they are conducting a review of their websites to ensure the proper identification of Lake Ontario by its correct name.
By Sunday afternoon, the affected GO Transit map was disabled, and the LCBO map was reverted to display Lake Ontario. In contrast, MapQuest, another online mapping service in the U.S., affirmed that they would not alter the lake’s name, while Apple remained silent on the matter.
Notably, tech analyst Carmi Levy highlighted that despite the Canadian ownership of websites like Hydro One and the LCBO, their maps are likely powered by Google’s application programming interface (API), which automatically switched to Lake America due to the lack of location awareness. Levy mentioned that developers embedding Google Maps on their sites can resolve this issue by setting their region to Canada on the backend to localize their maps.
The absence of a Canadian alternative to Google Maps or mapping APIs underscores Canada’s reliance on American technology, as Levy emphasized. Ontario’s Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement, Stephen Crawford, acknowledged the situation and affirmed that the provincial government is actively reviewing their websites to ensure the accurate identification of Lake Ontario.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford criticized the name change, asserting that Lake Ontario’s historical name would endure despite Trump’s executive order. Ford unveiled a sign in Winona, Ont., reading “Lake Ontario Now and Always” to emphasize the lake’s traditional name.
In response to Trump’s actions, Prime Minister Mark Carney reassured that Lake Ontario would retain its original name, emphasizing its historical significance. The ongoing trade tensions between Canada and the U.S. escalated following recent trade discussions, leading to retaliatory measures and disagreements over trade deals.
Ford’s public dispute with Trump escalated, culminating in Ford standing up to Trump’s verbal attacks on Canada. Despite the tensions, Ford emphasized the importance of focusing on mutual benefits and a return to productive trade negotiations.
Trump’s previous order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America faced similar online discrepancies, according to Levy. The evolving situation underscores the complexities of such changes and the varying interpretations across different platforms.
Overall, the digital confusion surrounding Lake Ontario’s name change highlights the challenges of digital sovereignty and the reliance on external technologies, particularly in the realm of mapping services.