Google Maps renames Gulf of Mexico in the US, rest of the world gets tweaked name too

If you’re a Google Maps user, you’re about to see a major name change next time you open the app and scroll down to the south of North America. Google Maps has renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America for those using the service from the United States. The change has been in the works for the last couple of weeks since President Donald Trump announced his intention to rename it during his first week back in office.

Google Maps rolled the name change out on February 10 to those in the US. A blog post from the company reaffirms the company follows the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) for its official naming policy. That was officially updated on February 9, so Google has followed suit.

Those in the US now see the Gulf of America, while users in Mexico continue to see the Gulf of Mexico. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has publicly criticized Trump and Google’s decision to rename the body of water, saying it’s outside US jurisdiction. Mexico says the US cannot change the name as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea says a country only has ownership up to 12 nautical miles from the country’s coastline. It’s unclear whether Trump will see any legal pushback on the change.

What about the rest of the world?

Everyone is seeing a change, unless you’re in Mexico

For those in the rest of the world, it’s changing as well, but it’s more likely to ensure clarity for everyone. It’ll be called the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America) in all other countries that aren’t the US or Mexico. With Google being a US-based company, it’s sure to want other countries to understand what the US is referring to when its citizens or institutions refer to it as the Gulf of America.

How it looks for those outside the US or Mexico

What name you see will depend on your device’s location. If you’re on a mobile device, it’ll come down to your SIM card, network, and location, while those on the web can change their region in the Search settings. So, if you want to see the Gulf of Mexico while in the US, it’s easy enough to do but it’ll make other locations around your local area harder to come by.

Other services have yet to update to Gulf of America. Waze, which is owned by Google, still says Gulf of Mexico, which we’d expect to change in the future. Waze has yet to confirm its next steps, though. Reporters at The Verge have found that Apple Maps has yet to make the change to the Gulf of America, but if you search for that it will still show the Gulf of Mexico but without the name change. Apple has yet to publicly comment, so this may be the middle ground that the company has decided on.