Not a fan of the "Gulf of America?" MapQuest is poking fun at President Trump’s executive order to rename the body of water by releasing a new site that lets you rebrand it however you’d like.
The Name your own gulf site is designed to do just that: Plug in the desired term, and MapQuest will generate a map with the title emblazoned on the body of water. Users can also download the map as an image and share it on social media.
(Credit: MapQuest)
MapQuest introduced the feature last week after Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Bing Maps modified their services to reflect the Gulf of America name for users in the US. The companies say they follow the naming conventions from the US Geographic Names Information System.
In tweets, the decades-old MapQuest joked that it had lost the ability to update itself when the service was previously owned by AOL back in the 2000s. “SO. We still haven't figured out how to update our maps. Sorry. But since you TOTALLY asked for this and we have NOTHING better to do…” MapQuest said in offering the “Name your own gulf” site.
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The main MapQuest site still shows the Gulf of Mexico as the official name for the sea basin, despite Trump’s executive order from last month. The decision to keep the Gulf of Mexico term has caused MapQuest to win some praise from comedians, including Roy Wood Jr. and Stephen Colbert, along with other Trump critics.
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In 2019, MapQuest was sold from Verizon to an internet advertising company called System1. Other, lesser-known mapping services, including OpenStreetMap and HERE WeGo, also continue to use Gulf of Mexico as the official name.
Although Google decided to follow Trump's executive order on the name change, the company facing pressure from Mexico to reverse the decision, with President Claudia Sheinbaum threatening to file a lawsuit. "What Google is doing here is changing the name of the continental shelf of Mexico and Cuba, which has nothing to do with Trump's decree...We do not agree with this," she said.
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About Our Expert
Michael Kan
Senior Reporter
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I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.
Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.
I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. Earlier this year, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.
I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how President Trump's tariffs will affect the industry. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.