MapQuest back from the dead to claim top spot in Apple App Store after taking stand on Lake Ontario name change
Washington Examiner · RC · trust 55/100
MapQuest, the mapping service long associated with stacks of printed driving directions, has found its way back to the top of the technology world after it refused to change Lake Ontario’s name in its app after President Donald Trump renamed the body of water.
The MapQuest app surged to the No. 1 spot in Apple’s App Store this week, dethroning ChatGPT, after refusing to follow Trump’s move to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” breaking from other mapping apps that updated their maps to reflect the change.
The company announced its position shortly after Trump signed an executive order directing the body of water to be renamed Lake America amid escalating tensions between the United States and Canada over tariffs .
“We’re not changing it,” MapQuest said in a social media post after Trump announced the change, including a photo of its map with a label identifying the body of water as Lake Ontario.
The response quickly garnered viral attention, leading to an uptick in downloads and sending the app to the top spot in the App Store — the highest ranking in the mapping service’s 30-year history.
MapQuest has also not changed the Gulf of Mexico’s label; Trump signed an executive order last year to rename the body of water the “Gulf of America.”
“Hey, Questies. #GulfofMexico and #LakeOntario are available here,” the company said in a post touting its app.
Google changed its maps to reflect the Trump administration’s new name for Lake Ontario over the weekend, and as with previous changes, Apple followed suit days later.
Apple Maps now shows “Lake America” written on the U.S. half of the lake, below the dashed border. The name “Lake Ontario” had hovered slightly above Canada’s side of the border before the change. Google Maps similarly shows the new name below the U.S. border.
Trump’s decree is binding for only the U.S. government and does not affect foreign governments, international bodies, or private companies, though they can choose to update names at their own discretion.
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