Google updates Maps to show Lake America for US users, Lake Ontario for Canadian users, and both for the rest of the world, citing the US GNIS' name change (Associated Press)

Google Maps is an app that one writer doesn't often use, but it becomes essential when traveling. During their last trip, they discovered a list feature in Google Maps that they hadn't used before, which replaced three other apps they typically used.

The writer noticed that Google Maps has been updated to reflect a name change for Lake Ontario, but only for users in the US. According to Google, this change was made following an executive order from the US government, which renamed the lake "Lake America". This change was made through the US Geographic Names Information System.

Users in the US now see "Lake America" on Google Maps, while those in Canada still see "Lake Ontario". For users outside of the US and Canada, both names "Lake Ontario (Lake America)" are displayed. Google confirmed that it follows official government naming databases when regional names differ.

Brief written by urgent.news from XDA Developers, Digital Trends, Android Authority, Techmeme — 4 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.