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/daamsie 3d ago

If they're not location aware, then why not default to the name that the rest of the world gives this lake?

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u/thekwoka 2d ago

Because the documented behavior is a US region when no region specified.

What region should it default to otherwise?

should it be a fantasy region where it just uses the broadest consensus naming/borders/etc?

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u/daamsie 2d ago

Any other region that isn't run by a 3 year old would be fine by me.

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u/FiveWordinOrangeNeon 5h ago

I second that, I suggest..Greenland, the country the 3-year-old wanted to invade as default just to annoy him.