Washington, D.C. — MapQuest has surged to the top of Apple’s U.S. navigation app rankings after refusing to follow President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America” for federal government use.
The 30-year-old mapping service publicly rejected the change after Trump signed the Aug. 27 order, posting on X, “We’re not changing it.” By Tuesday morning, MapQuest had overtaken Google Maps and Apple Maps as the most-downloaded navigation app in Apple’s U.S. App Store, according to TechCrunch and The Guardian.
MapQuest General Manager Doug Berger said usage was running about 50 times higher than normal, with hundreds of thousands of downloads following the company’s decision. The app also climbed to No. 2 overall in Canada.
Google Maps has adopted “Lake America” for U.S. users while retaining Lake Ontario elsewhere. Apple Maps continued displaying Lake Ontario as of Tuesday despite pressure from the Trump administration to make the change.
Public opinion appears firmly against Trump’s renaming effort. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday found only 14% of Americans supported changing Lake Ontario’s name.
MapQuest has leaned into the attention, even parodying Trump’s social media style while promoting its maps.
The controversy has also reached Congress, where three Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation Monday seeking to block the federal renaming and prevent similar changes to the Great Lakes.
Sources
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