Google Maps just fucking SUCKS now

[7/8]

The long awaited "Gulf" update is complete (seen here on my phone app):

[bandit957]

The long awaited "Gulf" update is complete (seen here on my phone app):

For me, the Google Maps website and my Google phone app just call it "Gulf of America", with no mention of Gulf of Mexico at all.

But in this world we call reality, everyone still calls it the Gulf of Mexico.

[pderocco]

The long awaited "Gulf" update is complete (seen here on my phone app):

For me, the Google Maps website and my Google phone app just call it "Gulf of America", with no mention of Gulf of Mexico at all.

But in this world we call reality, everyone still calls it the Gulf of Mexico.

Maybe they'll settle on Gulf of the Americas. But then, like Avenue of the Americas, everyone will continue to call it what they've been calling it all their lives.

[kphoger]

For me, the Google Maps website and my Google phone app just call it "Gulf of America", with no mention of Gulf of Mexico at all.

That's because you're viewing the map from the USA, where its official name is now the Gulf of America.  Google Maps simply displays the name that's official where you live, so long as your country borders it at least.  But Canada doesn't border that body of water, so Google Maps gives both names for 7/8, who is presumably viewing it from Canada.  If you were to view the map from Mexico or Cuba, then I'm certain it would show up as Golfo de México with no mention of Gulf of America at all.

[hotdogPi]

The official documentation says the US and Mexico are the only countries that have a single name. I can't access google.cu to check Cuba.

[vdeane]

For me, the Google Maps website and my Google phone app just call it "Gulf of America", with no mention of Gulf of Mexico at all.

That's because you're viewing the map from the USA, where its official name is now the Gulf of America.  Google Maps simply displays the name that's official where you live, so long as your country borders it at least.  But Canada doesn't border that body of water, so Google Maps gives both names for 7/8, who is presumably viewing it from Canada.  If you were to view the map from Mexico or Cuba, then I'm certain it would show up as Golfo de México with no mention of Gulf of America at all.

Mine shows both at zoom level 3 but only Gulf of America when zoomed in closer.

[kphoger]

Mine shows both at zoom level 3 but only Gulf of America when zoomed in closer.

At zoom level 3, Google assumes you're an alien.

[freebrickproductions]

As far as I'm concerned, it will always be the Gulf of Mexico.

[Scott5114]

What's particularly loathsome about this move is that it doesn't even follow Google corporate policy.

Under this policy, the English Google Earth client displays the primary, common, local name(s) given to a body of water by the sovereign nations that border it. [...] When our policy says that we display the "primary, common, local" names for a body of water, each of those three adjectives has an important and distinct meaning. By saying "primary", we aim to include names of dominant use, rather than having to add every conceivable local nickname or variation. By saying "common", we mean to include names which are in widespread daily use, rather than giving immediate recognition to any arbitrary governmental re-naming. In other words, if a ruler announced that henceforth the Pacific Ocean would be named after her mother, we would not add that placemark unless and until the name came into common usage.

Google Maps just fucking SUCKS now.

[freebrickproductions]

What's particularly loathsome about this move is that it doesn't even follow Google corporate policy.

Under this policy, the English Google Earth client displays the primary, common, local name(s) given to a body of water by the sovereign nations that border it. [...] When our policy says that we display the "primary, common, local" names for a body of water, each of those three adjectives has an important and distinct meaning. By saying "primary", we aim to include names of dominant use, rather than having to add every conceivable local nickname or variation. By saying "common", we mean to include names which are in widespread daily use, rather than giving immediate recognition to any arbitrary governmental re-naming. In other words, if a ruler announced that henceforth the Pacific Ocean would be named after her mother, we would not add that placemark unless and until the name came into common usage.

Google Maps just fucking SUCKS now.

I would say why I think Google (and soon to be Apple) are doing this, but I'm fairly certain the forum's no politics rule would prevent me from saying it.

[Scott5114]

I think it's enough to say they are doing it for political reasons. And I think that sucks.

I talked with someone who's pretty deep in the OSM community and apparently their solution is to put "Gulf of America" under an "official_name" field. Map renderers can decide whether they want to display common names or official names, but most of the ones in actual use tend to use common names. Maps made with OSM data will thus continue to show "Gulf of Mexico" for the foreseeable future.

[kkt]

The president overstepped his authority by doing the name change by executive order.  The Board of Geographic Names is the correct body; they take requests, collect evidence, consider, and make a decision.  The Secretary of the Interior may take action if the Board of Geographic Names doesn't make a ruling promptly, but since the president made this executive order within days of being sworn in, he can't really complain that they are being slow.

It is not good for geographic names to flip back and forth.  Names are almost always established by common use, and "Gulf of Mexico" has been used for centuries, and "Mount Denali" even longer.  When names are changed away from common use, such as the military bases named for confederate generals, there's even more reason to be deliberate about it rather than shooting from the hip.  "Denali" was always in common use among native people, and it was formally requested by the State of Alaska.  The Gulf of Mexico isn't even entirely within the United States.

[adventurernumber1]

I despise Google for this. For all the lousy updates over the years, now this thread title is truly 100.00% true. Google Maps fucking sucks now.

I honestly didn't think they were actually going to do this. I was actually proud of Google (before today) because I (ignorantly and mistakenly, apparently) thought they were not going to participate in this bullshit. That they were going to continue putting out objective mapping that does not bow to the whims of political nonsense, especially that of the most unhinged kind. I naively thought they wouldn't do this, simply because they hadn't yet done it for the past couple of weeks. However deep down I did worry, that there was the slimmest of chances (apparently not so slim) that they would cave in to this bullshit (for whatever godforsaken reason). As such, for the past couple of weeks, each day I would go on Google Maps and start to zoom out (while feeling like someone in a horror movie about to turn the corner of a hallway), then breathe a sigh of relief when I saw it still (correctly) said 'Gulf of Mexico.' Apparently today was the day that my sigh of relief had to be replaced with heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and tremors (which I am currently experiencing as I type this, since I only found out about this 10 or 20 minutes ago). For most Americans, this is probably deemed a comparatively trivial matter, but for me, as a roadgeek and mapgeek, this is a huge deal. And of course it just adds to the dozens of even worse things all happening at the same time right now (and showing no signs of getting better).

I thought Google Maps was one of the few places I could go to escape the political bullshit, and to pretend like I was in a better time and a better place. To just enjoy the roads and see the beauty of an America that had not been swallowed into a nightmare. To see the whole world, anything, provided by this objective mapping service that had integrity. Google Maps has been such a huge part of my immersion in roadgeekery for so many years ever since I first found it back in 2009 or so. And now, it too, has been contaminated by the toxic and repulsive current political abyss. If something like Google Maps Street View didn't have such irreplaceable utility (and if there was another site that actually had an equally reliable and comprehensive alternative), I think I would be inclined to boycott Google Maps after this. But unfortunately, given that, it is simply unrealistic, and with that I am in for quite some cognitive dissonance to somehow try to stomach continuing to use a "mapping" service that has so quickly thrown away all its integrity. It just pisses me off so much that in these tumultuous times, Google Maps has always been such a reliable "escape," but now it has been infected too. I apologize for how frenzied this post is, but I am very caught up in the emotions right now. Once again, the severity of this still pales in comparison to the severity of the dozens of other horrible things that are happening right now, but this hits a unique nerve, because this is somewhere that I (and other roadgeeks) were supposed to be able to go to escape these problems, escape these worries (if only very temporarily), to be able to look at roads and maps and street view and satellite and not have to worry about seeing even a shred of political filth. But now there's going to be a constant reminder (when zoomed out sufficiently) that Google, too, has now thrown away its soul, and thrown away any shred of integrity it still had, and been sucked into the current political abyss that just has to try to ruin everything imaginable.

I will be calling it the Gulf of Mexico for the rest of my life. Any map that says otherwise is not a legitimate map. Unfortunately Google Maps now falls into that category. Fuck Google.

[Scott5114]

Apparently today was the day that my sigh of relief had to be replaced with heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and tremors (which I am currently experiencing as I type this, since I only found out about this 10 or 20 minutes ago).

Whoa, dude. I mean, I'm annoyed about this, but if it's causing a reaction this bad you probably need to see a mental health professional. That's beyond the healthy range of reactions to something like this.

In the meantime, https://www.aaroads.com/aamaps/ uses the OSM dataset and thus will say Gulf of Mexico so long as OSM does.

[MikeTheActuary]

It's Route 128, the Sears Tower, and the Gulf of Mexico.

[kphoger]

To me, this is little different from the mayor of Anytown officially designating Main Street as Boaty McBoatface Memorial Thoroughfare.  I do realize there's a qualitative difference, but that's the way it feels.

As far as I'm concerned, it will always be the Gulf of Mexico.

Of course it will.

the Sears Tower

Yep.

[DTComposer]

FWIW, the change has now shown up on Apple Maps as well.

...but it looks like it hasn't changed on Mapquest! 

...yet

[DenverBrian]

Last I checked, Denali was still Denali. For now.

[bandit957]

Whoa, dude. I mean, I'm annoyed about this, but if it's causing a reaction this bad you probably need to see a mental health professional. That's beyond the healthy range of reactions to something like this.

I had the same reaction to a public policy that was enacted several years ago. It caused a pulmonary embolism, life-threatening heart damage, and a possible heart attack. And that's why I had to have heart surgery recently.

I nearly died of a broken heart - literally.

[Bobby5280]

"Gulf of America"  [...] I'll never call the Gulf that.

Also, DENALI is a far more cool sounding name for the tallest peak in North America than naming it after a somewhat obscure American President. Does anyone believe GMC would ever consider changing the model name on those Denali SUVs to "McKinley"?

[rm gratuitious politics -S.]

[kphoger]

Also, DENALI is a far more cool sounding name for the tallest peak in North America than naming it after a somewhat obscure American President. Does anyone believe GMC would ever consider changing the model name on those Denali SUVs to "McKinley"?

meh.  It was Mount McKinley my whole life, so to me it just feels like going back to what it always was.  I still haven't 100% switched to calling it Denali anyway.  I agree that Denali sounds cool, but it still just feels like the wrong name to me.

[Bobby5280]

It was Mount McKinley my whole life, so to me it just feels like going back to what it always was.

The original, native residents of Alaska were calling the peak "Denali" centuries before Americans named it "Mount McKinley."

[vdeane]

FWIW, the change has now shown up on Apple Maps as well.

...but it looks like it hasn't changed on Mapquest! 

...yet

Also worth noting: Apple Maps now has a beta web version.

beta.maps.apple.com

I despise Google for this. For all the lousy updates over the years, now this thread title is truly 100.00% true. Google Maps fucking sucks now.

I honestly didn't think they were actually going to do this. I was actually proud of Google (before today) because I (ignorantly and mistakenly, apparently) thought they were not going to participate in this bullshit. That they were going to continue putting out objective mapping that does not bow to the whims of political nonsense, especially that of the most unhinged kind. I naively thought they wouldn't do this, simply because they hadn't yet done it for the past couple of weeks. However deep down I did worry, that there was the slimmest of chances (apparently not so slim) that they would cave in to this bullshit (for whatever godforsaken reason). As such, for the past couple of weeks, each day I would go on Google Maps and start to zoom out (while feeling like someone in a horror movie about to turn the corner of a hallway), then breathe a sigh of relief when I saw it still (correctly) said 'Gulf of Mexico.' Apparently today was the day that my sigh of relief had to be replaced with heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and tremors (which I am currently experiencing as I type this, since I only found out about this 10 or 20 minutes ago). For most Americans, this is probably deemed a comparatively trivial matter, but for me, as a roadgeek and mapgeek, this is a huge deal. And of course it just adds to the dozens of even worse things all happening at the same time right now (and showing no signs of getting better).

I thought Google Maps was one of the few places I could go to escape the political bullshit, and to pretend like I was in a better time and a better place. To just enjoy the roads and see the beauty of an America that had not been swallowed into a nightmare. To see the whole world, anything, provided by this objective mapping service that had integrity. Google Maps has been such a huge part of my immersion in roadgeekery for so many years ever since I first found it back in 2009 or so. And now, it too, has been contaminated by the toxic and repulsive current political abyss. If something like Google Maps Street View didn't have such irreplaceable utility (and if there was another site that actually had an equally reliable and comprehensive alternative), I think I would be inclined to boycott Google Maps after this. But unfortunately, given that, it is simply unrealistic, and with that I am in for quite some cognitive dissonance to somehow try to stomach continuing to use a "mapping" service that has so quickly thrown away all its integrity. It just pisses me off so much that in these tumultuous times, Google Maps has always been such a reliable "escape," but now it has been infected too. I apologize for how frenzied this post is, but I am very caught up in the emotions right now. Once again, the severity of this still pales in comparison to the severity of the dozens of other horrible things that are happening right now, but this hits a unique nerve, because this is somewhere that I (and other roadgeeks) were supposed to be able to go to escape these problems, escape these worries (if only very temporarily), to be able to look at roads and maps and street view and satellite and not have to worry about seeing even a shred of political filth. But now there's going to be a constant reminder (when zoomed out sufficiently) that Google, too, has now thrown away its soul, and thrown away any shred of integrity it still had, and been sucked into the current political abyss that just has to try to ruin everything imaginable.

I will be calling it the Gulf of Mexico for the rest of my life. Any map that says otherwise is not a legitimate map. Unfortunately Google Maps now falls into that category. Fuck Google.

Everyone has their Rubicon moment.  I think you just found yours.

Apparently today was the day that my sigh of relief had to be replaced with heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and tremors (which I am currently experiencing as I type this, since I only found out about this 10 or 20 minutes ago).

Whoa, dude. I mean, I'm annoyed about this, but if it's causing a reaction this bad you probably need to see a mental health professional. That's beyond the healthy range of reactions to something like this.

In the meantime, https://www.aaroads.com/aamaps/ uses the OSM dataset and thus will say Gulf of Mexico so long as OSM does.

Might be a good idea to have that linked from the main site.

[1995hoo]

Unless you work for the Executive Branch of the US government, there's nothing requiring you to call them by the names the president prefers.

[kphoger]

It was Mount McKinley my whole life, so to me it just feels like going back to what it always was.

The original, native residents of Alaska were calling the peak "Denali" centuries before Americans named it "Mount McKinley."

Sure.  But I'm not one of them.  So I hadn't been calling it that.