posted in Technology
The 'OG' online map platform, MapQuest, says it won't change the name of Lake Ontario
www.businessinsider.com/mapquest-wont-rename-lake-ontario-lake-america-trump-canada-tariffs-2026-8
Replying to @ardi60@reddthat.com
You know, I never really considered automatic anti-vandalism mechanisms we have in place on OpenStreetMap, but they surely exist.
All that to say I think we’re good on OSM too. lol
It has been added to OpenStreetMap. It says official_name:en-US = Lake America
It’s not the name that is likely to show when viewing the map, but it’s in the data.
Replying to @diverging@piefed.social
it’s in the data
Correct, because that’s what official_name means. The US government, one of two countries encircling it, officially calls it “Lake America”. That’s why it’s official_name:en-US specifically, not official_name=. The name= key, the “primary name of the feature in the real world”, remains and will remain “Lake Ontario”.
It’s not the name that is likely to show when viewing the map
I’ll correct you and say that there’s no “likely” about it: it’s not the name that will be shown when viewing the map. That’s the name= key, which is “Lake Ontario”.
It depends on which map you are looking at. Anyone could take the OSM data and create a map that prefers to show official_name:en-US, when available.
Replying to @diverging@piefed.social
Yeah, and?
- If you actually edit OSM, you know there’s zero compelling reason to make an application that prefers
official_name:en-us. Want to know how I know? Because instead of wasting my time making something up to be outraged at, I went and looked up how often this key shows up. It’s six (it shows five, but it hasn’t updated for Lake Ontario yet). In the entire world among billions of key uses, this one is used on six objects. This will not ever happen; it’s complete nonsense.
Even if it were made (it will not be),
- Nobody would use it. Literally what on Earth usefulness could it possibly have within the already niche ecosystem that is OpenStreetMap? My dude, my guy, if they were targeting bullshit names Trump made up with an EO, they could just soft fork an existing OSM application and then hardcode in “Gulf of America” and “Lake America”.
And most importantly,
- It doesn’t matter. That’s what the
official_namekey exists for – to distinguish it from the name people actually use. That’s why it’s a separate key to begin with.
You’re complaining about OpenStreetMap being accurate, and in order to do that, you have to invent some fever dream application that nobody would ever create and nobody would ever use – and that even were they to create it, they could’ve accomplished it more easily by just hardcoding six values.
“When available”. lol, lmao even