@silentjohn@lemmy.ml
John
he/him
DSA ✊
Ally 🏳️🌈
Mastodon @silent_john
member since 16 Mar 2025 22:52
comments
- on Google Maps changes Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ for U.S. users in c/technology@lemmy.world · 31 Aug 2026
-
on Google Maps changes Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ for U.S. users in c/technology@lemmy.world · 31 Aug 2026
external sources like Yelp, Trip Advisor, Localeze, FB
-
on Google Maps changes Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ for U.S. users in c/technology@lemmy.world · 31 Aug 2026
unlikely that all of them would still be out-of-sync with upstream
It’s not like we all have one live server that ingests source changes and the customers will see it immediately. There is a massively delay, release schedules, etc.
Sure looks to me like Google made the change before the basemaps were updated
But yea, you could be right on this specific point
-
on Google Maps changes Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ for U.S. users in c/technology@lemmy.world · 31 Aug 2026
HERE Maps? Absolutely not. OSM is a competitor to HERE.
-
on Google Maps changes Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ for U.S. users in c/technology@lemmy.world · 31 Aug 2026
It’s the official GNIS name now, and is usually just piped into the maps. There aren’t people actually deciding which names to use at Google, HERE, whatever, etc … we just push sources in.
They’re doing it because they want to. Because they know it will make Trump happy.
sure, ok … guess you know more than my 20+ years experience at a digital map company that actually taught google how to make their maps.
-
on Google Maps changes Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ for U.S. users in c/technology@lemmy.world · 30 Aug 2026
HERE Maps will include the change, I 100% guarantee it. They have Gulf of America pushed to prod servers. (switch to US vpn location and you will see it)
source: I may or may not work for them 🫠
-
on Google Maps changes Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ for U.S. users in c/technology@lemmy.world · 30 Aug 2026
It is official in the eyes of the US Government. I’m simply explaining why some/most map companies will include the change.
-
on Google Maps changes Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ for U.S. users in c/technology@lemmy.world · 30 Aug 2026
Hi, I work in the map industry. We generally don’t get to decide what names to use for features. We apply what the local official name is (to simplify). That’s why if you’re in country A, feature X might be named something different than if you’re in country B. You can imagine this would (and has) caused many conflicts around the world if we didn’t display the local official name. (Switch your region via VPN and you can see this in action)
If Google renamed it to Gulf of America, no Google didn’t, not really … They just inserted the new official name for that feature according to GNIS.
-
on The 'OG' online map platform, MapQuest, says it won't change the name of Lake Ontario in c/technology@lemmy.world · 28 Aug 2026
Hi, I work in the map industry. We generally don’t get to decide what names to use for features. We apply what the local official name is (to simplify). That’s why if you’re in country A, feature X might be named something different than if you’re in country B. You can imagine this would (and has) caused many conflicts around the world if we didn’t display the local official name. (Switch your region via VPN and you can see this in action)
If Google renamed it to Gulf of America, no Google didn’t, not really … They just inserted the new official name for that feature according to GNIS.
-
on Bluesky’s active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app: 10.4 million monthly active users worldwide in June 2026, down 27.2% year-over-year. in c/technology@lemmy.world · 12 Aug 2026
I tend to agree. I simply don’t like the short form content. I never did. When twitter launched, I didn’t understand it, and I still don’t. It doesn’t facilitate conversation whatsoever. It’s just shitposting and one-liners and toxicity. We really lost something special when we moved from forums to shorter and shorter content platforms.
-
on Reddit forces login to access old.reddit.com in c/technology@lemmy.world · 11 Aug 2026
“Better” means extracting as much data and value from users as possible to appease the Capitalist machine. What users want or need is irrelevant.
-
on Bluesky’s active user base is shrinking as its focus expands beyond the app: 10.4 million monthly active users worldwide in June 2026, down 27.2% year-over-year. in c/technology@lemmy.world · 11 Aug 2026
bsky is just another VC-funded corpo platform. The initial wave of Libs who moved over gave it some gas, but ultimately, it’s just another toxic, bland platform like all the others.
Who gets to determine if they’re unnecessary updates?
EDIT/Update: ‘Lake America’ is currently under discussion from our Geopolitical Policy Board.