Apple has started to make changes to the Lake Ontario listing in Apple Maps, with searches for “Lake America” coming up with the Great Lake.
The ongoing political tiff between the United States and Canada over the identity of a body of water is starting to affect Apple Maps. While Lake Ontario hasn’t yet been updated to have the name of “Lake America,” as mandated by U.S. President Donald Trump, there are signs of it starting to happen.
Searches on iPhones in the U.S for “Lake America” come up with the listing for Lake Ontario. The details show it as having the address Lake America, NY, United States.
The label on the map itself, however, still shows Lake Ontario.
Searches for Lake America outside of the United States does not bring up Lake Ontario, including users in Canada. In one AppleInsider editorial member’s attempt, Apple Maps search instead came up with America Lake in South Dakota.
The change is almost certianly triggered by an update to the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), which is the official database of location names in the United States.
Google has already signaled the change to Lake America is on the way in Google Maps, following the GNIS update. It’s only natural for Apple to do the same thing eventually since it relies on the same database, though Apple doesn’t seem to be in any rush.
Partial rollout
The current situation echoes the similar implementation of the change from Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in 2025.
At first, searches for the Gulf of America came up with the Gulf of Mexico. Later, the label on the map changed, followed by the searches.
The timing of Apple’s change now also mirrors the change from 2025. It seems that Apple will eventually make the change to show Lake America in the United States.
A complete change may happen within hours or the next day.
