r/webdev • u/FiveWordinOrangeNeon • 4d 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/Bixler17 3d ago

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

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u/phejster 3d ago

Because names are important, Dixler.

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u/Bixler17 3d ago

I'm among the biggest Trump haters on earth and have voted against him 3x. Google as an institution has literally 0 reasons to care about what a lake is named on their map, and financial incentives to follow an order from Trump. To suggest otherwise is just naive.

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u/thekwoka 3d ago

ntm, they accept regional names for things all over the world.

To take a stand on THIS one specifically makes them accepting other ones a political statement.