Google says it will change Gulf of Mexico to 'Gulf of America' in Maps | Hacker News Reader

Google says it will change Gulf of Mexico to 'Gulf of America' in Maps

cnbc.com

37 pointsceejayoz48 comments

To he fair, it's not really their job to define namings. This happens all over the world and all the time.

The sea between England and France is called "English channel" in the Anglosphere and "La Manche" in France and many non-English-speaking countries. Crimea is separated by a dotted line from both Ukraine and Russia, not pretending it's still Ukrainian but also not granting it to Russia.

Poland decided to refer officially to the Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania, using its historical name, Konigsberg (or rather Królewiec, its Polish translations) since Kalinin was a Soviet apparatchik, and Wikipedia followed suit. I can't easily check the maps.

Maps are the last place where I want to see any innovation or political statements. Just use whatever prevailing official name and be done with it. If the US renames officially the GoM to GoAmerica then I expect Google Maps to follow suit.

> Google added that the name Gulf of Mexico will remain displayed for users in Mexico. Users in other countries will see both names, the company said.

They already do geofencing for Kashmir, there are laws in India which would put maps API consumers in legal peril, as well as google.

They've dealt with this kind of thing for years.

Surprised they didn't rename it to "Golf Of Peace And Freedom And Cuba".

And in four years, change it back to what everyone else recognizes it as.

Given all their data collection can’t they just show that to MAGA gang? And maybe limit it to US IPs while they’re at it…

Everyone gets what they want!

Google has been showing different maps to different IPs for years, especially around disputed borders.

They are, kinda.

> Google added that the Gulf of Mexico will remain displayed in Mexico. Users in other countries will see both names, the company said.

This is crazy. Why would Spain or Colombia have to see Gulf of USA together with the actual name?

Google uses the official place names of the user’s country.

If the governments of Spain or Columbia want to opine on what it should be called, I’m sure Google would adopt it for their citizens

Its Gulf of America, the continent, not USA. Gulf of USA would be silly.

Anyway, the silly part here is that USA calls themselves America, while Mexico and Canada are just as American.

I find "United States" a bit weird too, since the official name of Mexico is "United States of Mexico".

So there are two "United States" in North America!

shouldn't "The Gulf of America" extend from at least Long Island Sound down to somewhere in Argentina? Both contents have catcher's stances toward the east. Toward the Europe.

The left have been pressuring companies to adopt all sorts of ideological partisan positions for years, so it’s a bit hypocritical to expect companies to ignore the government now that the tide has turned.

"The hand of Vengeance found the bed To which the Purple Tyrant fled; The iron hand crush'd the Tyrant's head And became a Tyrant in his stead." -William Blake

Mc Donald's still doesn't call them Freedom Fries. I suppose that's the left's fault, not because that was a stupid idea. What is it about Trump that makes us forget what stupid is?

Many of the left’s ideas look just as silly to the right, as some of the right’s ideas look to you.

It’s double standard to insist that your ideological positions should be respected but others shouldn’t.

> it’s a bit hypocritical to expect companies to ignore the government now

Not an American, but my impression has always been that the right expected companies to ignore "ideological partisan positions" as well when they came from the left?

So it seems fair that the roles are reversed now: the right is pushing for positions and the left wants companies not to follow.

hahaha i have been pretending i would uninstall that shit for years, i guess i just needed a kick in the ass. done :D

they laughed when he said we'd be tired of winning

I assume the State of New Mexico will be forced to change its name, too.

New America it is.

-- to East Arizona!

Imperialisation.

So when will Taiwan be "the little island off mainland China?"

“Google added that the Gulf of Mexico will remain displayed in Mexico. Users in other countries will see both names, the company said.”

So dumb, it’s brilliant!

Here in Latin America we understand "America" as the continent and not as the USA (as it should be, imho). If they change it globally and literally to "Gulf of America" ("Golfo de América") here it will have absolutely none of the effect Trump and gang want it to have.

It's the biggest gulf in the Hemisphere.

The best Gulf.

All the other continents are saying so.

Strong continents, with tears in their eyes.

it's this really

unintentionally? they're making the name more accurate

Not because they want it to be accurate but because they hate Mexico.

"The mountain was named Mount McKinley until 2015, when President Barack Obama's administration changed it to Denali as a symbolic gesture to Alaska Natives."

In Google Maps, one can successfully search using the query string "Mt McKinley" but the destination is labeled "Denali".

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