this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2025
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

Using google maps from Australia it's labelled like "Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)"

I think the Australian government should call it "gulf of not Australia" and see if google adds another title.

[–] Bwaz 4 points 15 hours ago

Well. O. K. Then it's my not the 'USA" that did this anymore. It's to be called "North Mexico" now. Fair's fair.

[–] DarkFuture 27 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Next president, assuming there is one, will just change it back to repair relations with our allies.

Even if it never gets changed back, it'll be a generation before people actually start calling it that. No one alive now is going to give a fuck about the Gulf of America or call it that.

Hey conservatives, not that you're intelligent enough to figure out how to get on Lemmy, but if by some miracle one of you reads this, why is Trump doing this and floating invading our allies and annexing their territories instead of lowering the price of groceries as promised on day 1?

[–] MojoMcJojo 4 points 14 hours ago

You eat your Freedom Fries and you like it

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This whole thing is extremely cringe. There isn’t any other way to put it. Trump. His executive order. The compliance. It’s all cringe.

[–] Eagle0110 1 points 13 hours ago

Though to be fair cringe is like right in the very blood to Google anyway so what would you expect...

I mean, just look at how they often respond on their bug tracker platform of most of their products and how they try to justify their endless streams of questionable design decisions, that seems to be characteristic of them at this point lol

[–] cmhe 23 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Interesting discussion about this on the OpenStreetMap forums.

The resolution is introducing "official_name" tags, referencing "en_us", because "en" is not just the U.S.:

https://community.openstreetmap.org/t/gulf-of-america-gulf-of-mexico/124571/11

So when OsmAnd or OrganicMaps start to support them, maybe your locale settings will change the displayed name there as well.

Current description of that node: https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/305639190/history/80

So maybe that could be a reason for everyone around the world to stop using en_US locale settings. XD

[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Time for a repeat comment: Organic Maps does everything Google Maps does (except traffic conditions), and is FOSS. Please encourage places to contribute business information to Open Street Maps.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 hours ago

I just tried it and found three dealbreakers instantly.

  1. It doesn't have my address (I know I could add it but who knows what else it's missing)

  2. It couldn't find any public transport routes in my area

  3. There is no satellite view

[–] [email protected] 2 points 17 hours ago

The traffic conditions is huge tho

Just last week, that philly plane crash, I saw exactly where the roads are closed and which roads are congested.

[–] moakley 13 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I'm all for swapping apps, but Organic Maps doesn't even have my home address. And I live in a major metropolitan area.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] moakley 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

That solves the problem this time, but it doesn't help if I'm trying to navigate somewhere new.

If it doesn't have the address for a 30-year-old house in a major metropolitan area, then I just don't think it's a viable replacement for Google Maps, unfortunately.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Every time I try to navigate to an address that's missing in OSM, I just navigate to the nearest one instead. It's not a big deal.
And when I have 5 minutes of free time, I add the address.

That's how OSM works. There isn't a dev or company to blame, you can literally fix the missing data yourself. And that's the only way it works.

[–] ArtVandelay 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I wish OSM had the resources to make something akin to Pokemon Go but instead of capturing something, it adds it to the database.

[–] vatlark 12 points 1 day ago (3 children)

You are in luck my friend: https://streetcomplete.app/

They have made it super easy and fun. I have been playing it for nearly a year and have made a pretty big dent in my local dense metro area.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 hours ago

Found this thing yesterday. I've contributed to OSM more in a day than in the previous year. It's great.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Thanks, I was following this thread and wanted to say the same thing

I've kept updating shops that change, new houses, parking, etc... it's great. I even used it on vacation (when the SO wasn't looking)

My global rank is #1554 and ~#130ish in my local country, but #12 in another country I barely visit, so it shows where more people should ~~complain less~~ support more.

[–] vatlark 3 points 13 hours ago

Wow good work, my global ranking is #2449.

Ha, yeah it's good that you slowly clear out your local area because my SO did not appreciate me trying to answer questions while we walked.

[–] ArtVandelay 5 points 1 day ago
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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (6 children)

Also, report an error to google maps:

It reads: I read "Gulf of America". That must be a mistake.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

I can't seem to do this from the phone app

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[–] _lilith 104 points 1 day ago (7 children)
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[–] [email protected] 72 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

That's a weird flex by South Canada.

[–] SoftestSapphic 54 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Nothing will meaningfully improve until the rich fear for their lives

[–] DarkFuture 3 points 1 day ago

Bingo.

Imagine getting every "alpha male" 2A nutjob violent conservative to realize who their actual enemy is.

We'd get some actual positive change in an extremely short period of time.

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[–] [email protected] 83 points 1 day ago (3 children)

What a bunch of cucks! The billionaires have fully taken over!

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[–] mRbLUE 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Would be shame if google are snowed under with reports the name is wrong :-)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Just tried: the 'report an issue'/'suggest an edit' button doesn't appear when The Gulf of Mexico is selected.

It does for other locations, but not for the Gulf.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 16 hours ago

Report an issue through the base report feature

Open maps > your profile picture > last option on the list

You can directly reference and include a screenshot of the map

[–] [email protected] 2 points 16 hours ago

It's because people already Mass reported it so they disabled the ability for it

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Genuinely curious... How does Google handle other oceanic naming that isn't agreed upon Worldwide?

Google Maps view of the Southern Ocean around Antarctica

[–] [email protected] 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Generally, Google shows the appropriate name based upon where you are located. So for everyone outside of 'murica, it's still the Gulf of Mexico.

[–] Hobbes_Dent 2 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

They said that but it’s a fat lie.

They did say both names, but this is a complete cop out.

[–] ArtVandelay 4 points 1 day ago

Google can officially gargle deez nutz

[–] mrmule 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I'm currently in France, this is what I see on Google maps Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)

What a f*cking joke 😂

Maps.me shows the real name

As does mappy.cz

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

I'm in Canada, and Google maps shows me the same as what you are seeing.

[–] werefreeatlast 3 points 1 day ago

Cancun Texas! Have you guys been? Its beautiful! Just a short flight across the golf of America and located in southflorida...Flucatan.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 day ago (4 children)

The change reflects Google's policy of adhering to official government names for geographical locations.

OK, so why am I seeing Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America) from Canada?

[–] Tattorack 23 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Same here in Europe.

This is highly irregular for several reasons:

Google adheres to official government positions, yes, but as far as I'm aware the American government hasn't made the name change official yet. Members of the government have said that they'd do this, but I don't think this idea has passed any process yet. So then why is Google "updated" their maps?

When Google adheres to official government positions, they are local. In example, when you're in China and look up Taiwan, it'll appear as part of China. In other countries it'll appear as either an independent country or a disputed territory, depending on that government's official position on the matter. What we DON'T see is something like "Taiwan (China)", as Google supposedly has no intention on forcing the policies of one government upon another government, and as far as I'm aware the rest of the world hasn't agreed to changing The Gulf of Mexico to The Gulf of America.

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 day ago (5 children)
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[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 day ago

What's that sucking sound?

[–] thisphuckinguy 25 points 1 day ago (2 children)

What the fuck is this shit?

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago

I’m in the process of migrating my saved locations and addresses to Organic Maps. Bye Google.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago

Cool.

In not at all related news disabling Google maps on your Android device can often be a source of delight! I never knew how capable organic maps was and it has a very nice auto integration.

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