Google Maps will receive a change, as several landmarks in the U.S. will be changed to new names following an executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Gulf of Mexico will now be changed to the Gulf of America, and Mt. Denali will now be shown as Mt. McKinley.
In a series of tweets, Google announced the change will happen once the Geographic Names Informational System (GNIS) is updated. Google states the change will happen as soon as possible to show the new name changes, but the new names aren’t showing in Google Maps yet.
This isn’t the first time that Mt. Denali has held the McKinley name. It was initially called Denali by indigenous people living in Alaska. It was then called Densmore’s Mountain in the late 1800s for a gold prospector who had reached the mountain’s base. It was officially named Mount McKinley in 1917 and locally called Denali until 2016, when the name became official.
This name change will not affect people outside the U.S. as much. Users in Mexico will see it only as the Gulf of Mexico, while users outside either country will see the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf of America names.
Another tweet released by Google states that its longstanding practice is to show users the official local names of landmarks, and users outside either of the disputing countries will see both names.
One example of this policy is the Sea of Japan, which is also called the East Sea on Google Maps, due to a dispute between Japan and North/South Korea.
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