Thirty years after launching during the dot-com boom, MapQuest has a new roadmap to success.
The digital mapping company is now the top free app in the Apple App Store after declining to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America,” despite President Trump signing an executive order last week to change its name.
“The surge follows MapQuest’s decision to keep the historical, familiar names for lakes and gulfs on its maps,” the company said Monday in a press release.
ChatGPT is the second-most downloaded free app on Apple.
MapQuest disclosed its decision on social media on Aug. 27, posting “We’re not changing it,” the same day Mr. Trump signed the order directing the name change.
“We are aware that Lake Ontario is being correctly labeled on our map,” the company later posted. MapQuest also launched a tool that allows people to create their own name for the lake.
MapQuest said Monday that hundreds of thousands of people have downloaded the app since the company announced it would keep the name Lake Ontario. Usage of the app is also running roughly 50 times its normal rate, the company said.
“We took the same approach we did with the Gulf of Mexico: be part of the conversation, and give people an app that keeps the names they’re familiar with,” Doug Berger, general manager of MapQuest, said in a statement on Monday. “Hundreds of thousands of people signaled to us this weekend that we got it right, by downloading our app.”
Mr. Trump ordered the name change for Lake Ontario last week as the U.S. and Canada clashed over trade issues. The countries mutually imposed 50% tariffs on some imports after failing to reach a deal.
“Canada has been a bad neighbor by ripping off our country for years,” Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, said in an email to CBS News. “President Trump promised voters that he would not allow our country to be taken advantage of anymore, which is why he is fighting so hard to protect American industries and workers. Thanks to the President’s bold leadership, we are putting America back on the map.”
The White House didn’t address whether MapQuest’s decision not to change Lake Ontario’s name violates Mr. Trump’s executive order.
Denver-based MapQuest was launched in 1996 and was one of the first mapping services. It provided step-by-step navigation instructions, which many printed out to take with them on their car rides before GPS became more ubiquitous.
Google, Apple change their maps
While MapQuest stood its ground, other navigation services moved to make changes.
Google Maps announced over the weekend that it was updating its maps to reflect Mr. Trump’s new name for Lake Ontario, which straddles the border between New York and the Canadian province of Ontario. A search for “Lake Ontario” on Google now directs people to “Lake America.”
Both Apple’s web version of its map and its phone app also have changed Lake Ontario to Lake America.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment. The tech giant told Reuters that U.S. users will see Lake America on its map, while users in Canada will continue to see Lake Ontario. Users in the rest of the world will see both names.
