{"id":1836235,"date":"2025-01-28T10:58:55","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T15:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1836235"},"modified":"2025-01-28T21:10:24","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T02:10:24","slug":"google-maps-to-use-gulf-of-america-others-not-so-much","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/01\/google-maps-to-use-gulf-of-america-others-not-so-much\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Maps to Use ‘Gulf of America’–Others Not So Much"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lots of news coverage about Google\u2019s announcement that it will follow Trump\u2019s lead and change Gulf of Mexico<\/em> to Gulf of America<\/em> (and Denali<\/em> to Mount McKinley<\/em>) on Google Maps once the GNIS<\/abbr> database has been updated\u2014at least when showing it to American users. Mexicans will still get Gulf of Mexico<\/em>, while the rest of us will get both names. See coverage at BBC<\/a>, CNBC<\/a>, CNN<\/a>, Guardian<\/a><\/em>, TechCrunch<\/a><\/em>, among many many many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not sure why some people were expecting Big Tech to lead the resistance (especially a trillion-dollar company), and over one of the easiest things to undo once this is all over: Google has made a point of accommodating government requests on its maps, showing the \u201cright\u201d borders and place names to the right users. See previous post: Google Maps as Non-State Authority<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But not everyone is falling into line. The British government has no plans to refer to it as the Gulf of America, nor will British maps change unless it becomes the most commonly used name: see The Independent<\/a><\/em> and The Telegraph<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the Associated Press is updating its stylebook<\/a> in a way that splits the difference, following Trump on Denali\/Mount McKinley because it\u2019s fully within his purview but pointing to the Gulf\u2019s international status: \u201cThe Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previously: Naming the Gulf<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Update 9:10 PM<\/em>: More detail from CNBC<\/a>, which reports that \u201cGoogle\u2019s maps division on Monday reclassified the U.S. as a \u2018sensitive country,\u2019 a designation it reserves for states with strict governments and border disputes […] Google\u2019s list of sensitive countries includes China, Russia, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, among others. […] Google\u2019s order states that the Gulf of America title change should be treated similar to the Persian Gulf, which in Arab countries is displayed on Google Maps as Arabian Gulf.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lots of news coverage about Google\u2019s announcement that it will follow Trump\u2019s lead and change Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America (and Denali to Mount McKinley) on Google Maps once the GNIS database has… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[692],"tags":[1207,462,82,1719,448],"class_list":["post-1836235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-toponyms","tag-denali","tag-google","tag-google-maps","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-trump","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1836507,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/02\/gulf-of-america-apple-conforms-ap-punished-for-not-doing-so\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836235,"position":0},"title":"‘Gulf of America’: Apple Conforms, AP Punished for Not Doing So","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"11 February 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Google isn\u2019t alone: Apple is also changing Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America to its maps. According to Bloomberg, the change is happening today for U.S. users and rolling out globally later, which if true is a lot more compliance than Google is showing. AppleInsider, TechCrunch, The Verge. Apple\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Censorship"","block_context":{"text":"Censorship","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/censorship\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1836251,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/01\/more-reactions-to-gulf-of-america\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836235,"position":1},"title":"More Reactions to ‘Gulf of America’","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"29 January 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Yesterday\u2019s post looked mainly at Google\u2019s response to Trump\u2019s renaming of Denali and the Gulf of Mexico. Today some news about Apple and OpenStreetMap. On Daring Fireball, John Gruber points to OpenStreetMap forum discussions about the change, which reveals some nuances and complications despite the utter lunacy of the situation.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Toponyms"","block_context":{"text":"Toponyms","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/toponyms\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1836474,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/02\/google-and-the-gulf\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836235,"position":2},"title":"Google and the Gulf","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"11 February 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"What I see here in Canada. Google Maps (screenshot) Three weeks to the day after Trump\u2019s executive order directing that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed Gulf of America, the new name now appears on Google Maps for U.S. users; outside the U.S. and Mexico, users see both names. A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Toponyms"","block_context":{"text":"Toponyms","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/toponyms\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/google-gulf-america.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/google-gulf-america.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/google-gulf-america.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/google-gulf-america.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/google-gulf-america.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/google-gulf-america.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1836993,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/02\/a-gulf-of-america-roundup\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836235,"position":3},"title":"A ‘Gulf of America’ Roundup","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"21 February 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Two long reads on Apple, Google and the Gulf of America nonsense. Miguel Garc\u00eda looks the history of places with multiple names, and how Google Maps in particular has handled them, using the Matterhorn (Mont Cervin, Monte Cervino) as an uncontentious example. John Gruber, whose Daring Fireball blog has covered\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Censorship"","block_context":{"text":"Censorship","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/censorship\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1836778,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/02\/gulf-of-america-compliance-and-resistance\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836235,"position":4},"title":"‘Gulf of America’: Compliance and Resistance","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"17 February 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Apple Maps (screenshot) Compliance While it was reported that Apple would comply with the \u201cGulf of America\u201d renaming, I wasn\u2019t sure what Apple would do outside the U.S.; now it appears that it will follow Google\u2019s lead and show both names. Above is what I see in Canada; I wonder\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Censorship"","block_context":{"text":"Censorship","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/censorship\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gulf-of-compliance-in-advance.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gulf-of-compliance-in-advance.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gulf-of-compliance-in-advance.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gulf-of-compliance-in-advance.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1836613,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/02\/gulf-of-america-isnt-going-over-well\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836235,"position":5},"title":"‘Gulf of America’ Isn’t Going Over Well","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"13 February 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"A Reuters\/Ipsos poll conducted 24-26 January found that 70 percent of Americans oppose renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America; only 25 percent support the move. Google Maps users have been leaving one-star reviews of the Gulf to protest Google\u2019s compliance with the renaming; Google has deleted\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Censorship"","block_context":{"text":"Censorship","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/censorship\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1836235"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1836245,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836235\/revisions\/1836245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1836235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1836235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1836235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}