The MapQuest application experienced a significant increase in popularity in the United States after refusing to change the name of Lake Ontario to 'America Lake'. This application, one of the oldest map services available on the internet, reached the number one spot in the navigation category of the App Store and the fourth overall position in the US.
This growth occurred because the company declared that it would maintain the traditionally used names on its maps, which contradicted the new nomenclature established by President Donald Trump for American maps.
In the United States, the application registered over 160 thousand downloads in the week starting August 24, a volume more than ten times higher than the previous week, according to data provided by Sensor Tower. The service usage reached up to 50 times the average, surpassing Google Maps, which holds the second overall place on the App Store in Canada.
The company itself announced the decision to preserve the original name. Doug Berger, MapQuest's general manager, explained that the platform wished to 'offer people an application that maintains the names they are already familiar with.'
The Trump administration had issued an executive order formalizing the name change of the area in the United States' geographic records. This directive instructs the Department of the Interior to replace 'Lake Ontario' with 'Lake America' in the country's official geographic naming system, the GNIS.
This determination was made in the context of worsening trade relations between the United States and Canada, as the latter imposed 50% tariffs on approximately US$ 20 billion worth of Canadian goods.
While Google Maps has already started displaying the new name to American citizens, it continues to use 'Lake Ontario' in Canada. Meanwhile, Apple Maps has not yet implemented this name change, according to TechCrunch reports.
The decision is unlikely to affect the maps presented to Brazilian users, although the companies may opt for dual display globally. Google and Apple have already made a similar change in 2025, when Trump ordered the Gulf of Mexico to be named 'America Gulf' on maps intended for the United States; in the rest of the world, both names are shown: 'Gulf of Mexico (America Gulf)'.
Although the MapQuest application is not available in the Brazilian versions of the App Store or Google Play, it can be accessed normally through a browser. Its English interface allows users to plot routes, check journeys, and includes points of interest and establishments in the country.
MapQuest was launched about 30 years ago, during the early days of commercial internet, and gained notoriety with its navigation and routing tools before the emergence of Google Maps. Over the years, it underwent acquisitions by companies such as AOL and Verizon, eventually being acquired by the digital media company System1 in 2019.