MapQuest surges in popularity after defying Trump over Lake Ontario name change

MapQuest has turned a refusal to follow Donald Trump’s Lake Ontario renaming order into a surge in popularity. The mapping app became the top navigation application in the United States after publicly keeping the lake’s familiar name.

Trump’s executive order of August 27 directed federal agencies to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America” amid a trade dispute with Canada. MapQuest rejected the order, and downloads reportedly rose high enough to push the 30-year-old internet mapping pioneer to the top of Apple’s U.S. App Store chart. It also became the most popular application in Canada.

Doug Berger, MapQuest’s general manager, said usage had increased 50 times above its normal rate. “We took the same approach as during the earlier Gulf of Mexico incident, becoming part of the public conversation and providing an application that keeps the name people are already familiar with,” he said. “Hundreds of thousands of users signalled their support this week by downloading the MapQuest app.”

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We took the same approach as during the earlier Gulf of Mexico incident, becoming part of the public conversation and providing an application that keeps the name people are already familiar with.

The naming dispute has produced different choices among major mapping platforms. Google displayed “Lake America” to users in the United States, while retaining “Lake Ontario” for users elsewhere. Apple Maps was still using Lake Ontario on Tuesday, despite U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum saying he expected the platform to make the change after receiving direct contact from Trump.

A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found that only 14% of Americans supported Trump’s effort to rename the lake. Critics and internet users praised MapQuest for defending the historical name of the lake, which stretches across the U.S.-Canada border and has been used for about 400 years.

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Hundreds of thousands of users signalled their support this week by downloading the MapQuest app.