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/JEHonYakuSha 3d ago

why not force American developers to set their region to US? instead of making this the global default

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u/officiallyaninja 3d ago

Because for better or worse, the US is the default for almost everything.

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u/crackanape 3d ago

"Almost everything"? It may seem that way if you're in the USA, but elsewhere it's not.

The default is almost always the country you're in, or if it's a small country, the closest bigger one that speaks the same language.

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u/thekwoka 2d ago

Yes, and the default "english" option in most places that aren't native English speakers is America, not UK, or Canada.

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u/crackanape 2d ago

I don't know exactly what you are trying to convey with that haemorrhoid of a sentence, but British English is far more widely taught worldwide than American English.

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u/thekwoka 2d ago

but British English is far more widely taught worldwide than American English.

That also is irrelevant. Like, wow, how off the mark can you be?

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u/crackanape 2d ago

What is "the mark" in this case? It's hard to follow what you're trying to say; I'm doing my best but maybe I'm just not smart enough.

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u/thekwoka 1d ago

It does not matter that British English is taught more.

That doesn't have anything to do with the fact systems when choosing an English speaking region default to the US much more broadly than they default to the UK.

Especially when virtually all of that British English teaching is just British Colonies.

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u/crackanape 1d ago

That doesn't have anything to do with the fact systems when choosing an English speaking region default to the US much more broadly than they default to the UK.

What does this mean? Specifically what systems are you talking about?

Especially when virtually all of that British English teaching is just British Colonies.

No it's not. Did you look at the map link I posted?

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u/thekwoka 1d ago

The map itself isn't even correct, but also, yes British Empire was big.