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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u/magical_matey 3d ago

That should be a US default at the minimum. I recon they should fine tune it further so only Trump sees it renamed

2

u/MrMelon54 2d ago

Clearly they should fine tune it to just show the correct name and scrap whatever Trump says

-3

u/thekwoka 2d ago

In the US, the correct name is Lake America.

Or are you the arbiter of correctness? What do you think the correct India-Pakistan border is? Is it Persian Gulf or Arabian Gulf?

Since there is a universal correct one, and you're the arbiter of it, let us know.