Google and the Gulf

Published on by Jonathan Crowe
A screenshot from Google Maps showing the Gulf of Mexico labelled as 'Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)'
What I see here in Canada. Google Maps (screenshot)

Three weeks to the day after Trump’s executive order directing that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed Gulf of America, the new name now appears on Google Maps for U.S. users; outside the U.S. and Mexico, users see both names. A blog post by Google outlines who will see what where.

A screenshot showing different labels of the Gulf of Mexico depending on where you are: U.S. users get Gulf of America, Mexican users get Gulf of Mexico, everyone else gets Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America).
Google (screenshot)

Andrew Middleton notes that review by the Board on Geographic Names “usually takes a while. Two weeks is a freaking speed run. The Board is completely nuts if they think it’s ok to approve a name that no one even heard of before last month.”

More coverage at BBC News, CNN, TechCrunch and The Verge.

Previously: Naming the Gulf; Google Maps to Use ‘Gulf of America’–Others Not So Much; More Reactions to ‘Gulf of America’.