Lake Ontario Name Change -- Return To Sender

Donald Trump points to a a map reading ‘Gulf of America’ after signing an executive order at the Oval Office on 25 February 2025. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

 

"We're fully committed to or users right now, and the users are showing what they believe in by downloading our app."

"[MapQuest's recent actions were not intended as a political statement, but to offer people the names of lakes they're familiar with]. It's fun that we're talking about geography."

"The poster may be gone, but Lake Ontario remains Lake Ontario on MapQuest and the route is still there whenever you need it."

"The routes are real, the locations are real and Lake Ontario is the name users will find when they open MapQuest."

"People rely on maps to make the world feel navigable and familiar. While keeping the names that people know and trust, this campaign brings our commitment to life while tapping into 30 years of nostalgia, and puts it all right back on the map." 

Doug Berger, general manager, MapQuest 

Canada's billboard is located in Toronto, at 43 Lower Jarvis Street. Photo by MapQuest

California-based MapQuest has installed billboards across the U.S. and Canada with detailed directions to Lake Ontario, responding to U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order renaming the lake 'Lake America'. Six-foot-height posts were erected in Toronto, Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Launched in 1996, MapQuest was one of the first mapping services on the web. It used old highway icons, a banner advertisement and an URL that runs across the bottom of each page. 

 

Toronto's billboard, owing to its proximity to Lake Ontario had one page of directions, whereas the other cities had three pages in the new campaign, following the company's confirmation that it has no intention of changing Lake Ontario to 'Lake America' on the spiteful whim of the president to overturn a name whose history is centuries old, derived from an Indigenous Iroquoian word. The company was not impressed by Mr. Trump's August 27 directive to the Department of the Interior.

 

MapQuest general manager Doug Berger poses next to the billboard in Chicago, which is located at State and Hubbard Street in the River North neighbourhood. Photo by MapQuest

 

Google Maps and Apple Maps, on the other hand, have gone halfway, adopting 'Lake America' for American users while retaining the authentic original name for all other international users. The reaction to MapQuest's decision to honour the original name of Lake Ontario even surprised them, when an unexpected surge of downloads of the apps occurred, indicating support by many of its users, to the extent that MapQuest has reached No.1 in the U.S. App Store, both for the navigation and overall categories.  

 

The app's usage, in fact, rose some 50 times what is considered normal, surpassing two million downloads. A thoroughly playful feature that allows users to rename Lake Ontario within the app on their own, builds on a tool launched by the company in the wake of the president's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico. 

 

Donald Trump signs an executive order renaming Lake Ontario during an event in the Oval Office.  Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images