MapQuest has surged in popularity on the app charts after the mapping service said it would not rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America” after President Trump signed an executive order changing its name.
The company said its mobile app received hundreds of thousands of downloads after it announced Thursday that the name Lake Ontario would remain on its apps, despite Trump directing the Interior Department to update the lake’s name in the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
By Monday morning, MapQuest had climbed to No. 1 among navigation apps in Apple’s U.S. app store and No. 4 in non-gaming apps. In Canada, which shares the lake with the U.S., the app reached No. 2 overall over the weekend. The app’s usage also jumped to roughly 50 times its normal level, according to MapQuest.
Here we are on Thursday and MapQuest still holds the #1 spot, ahead of ChatGPT, Vinted (never heard of it), TikTok (which is apparently now named “TikTok Pro - Events”?), ESPN Fantasy Sports (the NFL season is about to start), Claude, and Gemini.
When opportunity knocks, you need to open the door. The political corner that both Apple and Google get painted into when Donald Trump asserts a new name for an established geographic feature is a huge opportunity for an underdog like MapQuest. Good for them.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6063924-mapquest-tops-apple-google-maps-in-downloads-after-refusing-trumps-lake-america-change/?ref=ihnatko.com
