#Google really is into self-humiliation these days. It's being widely ridiculed regarding renaming Lake Ontario to Lake "America" -- and only hiding "Ontario" for U.S. users! Google Maps isn't a trustworthy geo service, it's now a fascist propaganda outlet.
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@lauren I make no apologies or excuses for Grovelmaps but tbh I guess I might toss the orange lardo a peanut every now and then if I were in their position. Keep old mango Mussolini quiet for a bit at minimal cost.
@lauren google being on the wrong side of history (again).
@lauren ... now of course this is a working hypothesis. But I suppose we shall see the proof in the pudding when the Orange Guy has been dismissed, the new govt will rename the damn lake back to Lake Ontario, and g00gle will follow suit for no other than purely commercial reasons ...
@otte_homan@theblower.Of course. The point is however, that returning it to the rightful name is not the equivalent of changing it to the fascist whim name. Google will claim neutrality, but of course that will be untrue.
@PeterLudemann Yeah, as you might expect, I know all this. I took the opportunity when I was there to discuss this kind of issue with the Geo team. It's still (in this case, and Gulf of Mexico) utter bull. In this case particularly, Google could have simply said NO. Just say NO. What would have happened next? What would Trump have done then? THAT'S what we needed to see.
@lauren @PeterLudemann More importantly, once Google demonstrates they can and will alter the results from official sources, what will every other country with a dispute about landmarks, borders or place names do?
@tknarr @PeterLudemann A more basic question is what are "official sources" for a non-governmental entity like Google?
@lauren @PeterLudemann Usually whatever the government of the relevant country says they are for that country. So, for the US, it's the USGS. For Canada it's the Canadian Geographic Names Database (CGNDB). Where there's overlap and the user is in either country, I'd expect the ambiguity to be resolved in favor of the country the user's in. If the user's not in either, I'd expect resolution to favor the country they were asking about (if any).
@tknarr @PeterLudemann Again, there is no law requiring the following of those agencies (by a firm like Google). And we know that Google diverges from the desired nomenclature for various countries around the world. More to the point, Google is not under any obligation to follow the dictates of a madman who is literally trying to derail the next election, unless Google wants to find themselves in the position of IBM and the Nazis. Which may be Sundar's goal. Mapquest, by the way, has said they are refusing to comply with the name change.
@lauren
> What would Trump have done then?
Possibly he would send the gICEtapo after half of the G's brass?
