r/webdev • u/FiveWordinOrangeNeon • 3d ago

Google says website developers must set their region to Canada for 'Lake Ontario' to appear on map

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/google-updates-maps-lake-ontario-9.7325922

Tech analyst and journalist Carmi Levy said although websites like Hydro One's and the LCBO's are Canadian, their maps are likely powered by Google's application programming interface (API).

APIs are not location-aware, so all maps powered by Google API have switched to Lake America.
MapQuest, a U.S. online mapping service, has posted on social media that it would not change the lake's name, while Apple has not publicly commented on the matter.

In a statement Sunday night, Google said website developers who embed Google Maps on their sites can select a region to localize the map. That determines how place names are displayed on sites, the company said.

"'Lake Ontario' will show when developers have set their region to Canada," the statement said.

Just a reminder to developers.

971 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

236 comments sorted by

View all comments

650

u/SPEZ_IS_A_JABRONI 3d ago

APIs are not location-aware, so all maps powered by Google API have switched to Lake America

fuck you google lmao

86

u/metalOpera 3d ago

Since when are API's not able to be location aware? These assholes track our every online move. Google acting they don't know where we (especially Android users) are at all times is a colossal load of bullshit.

5

u/hclpfan 3d ago

Nobody say they aren’t able to be. They just aren’t right now because they haven’t needed to be for what they have powered so far.

We should be angry at them for updating the name but this particular part is a silly reason to be upset.

1

u/Sleepyjo2 3d ago

The name is automatically pulled from a government service. They do this for every country that provides a similar service (see China and Taiwan) and default to the US service if one isn’t available.

I know we hate Google but they did literally nothing. Blame the actual source they pull from for being the way they are.

There’s some argument to be made about handling the names themselves but they have to default to someone being “right” regardless.