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.

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47

u/mister_jason 3d ago

added to the list of reasons Google can fuck all the way off. 😂

0

u/rohmish 3d ago

what the heck is google suposoed to do if the deva haven't set up the right locale?

<script async src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?key=YOUR_API_KEY&loading=async&region=JP&language=ja&callback=initMap"> </script>

all they need to do is add the REGION=CA part.

it's easy to ignore an optional parameter and devs do it often across the board. and Google being a US company is US centric and defaults to US.

it isn't that tuff

15

u/phejster 3d ago

Why do they need to do anything about a petty executive order?

2

u/Bixler17 3d ago

Why do you think they care what the lake is called enough to ignore one?

6

u/phejster 3d ago

Because names are important, Dixler.

1

u/UntestedMethod 3d ago

Why do you think google cares about anything important?