Google Maps has recently come under fire for its capitulation to the US government under President Donald Trump, renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in US versions of Google Maps, and having it called “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)” in locations that aren’t Mexico, where it retains the Gulf of Mexico naming convention.
Now this isn’t strictly a tech problem, but today’s Tech Thoughts seeks to shed light on how, especially in the age of Googling and artificial intelligence summations, the politics of every country can directly affect how tech will present itself to an average user.
What’s this about a gulf and a controversy?
Trump’s government, through an executive order, had the US Geographic Names Information System rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, despite the US not having exclusive control over that body of water.
According to an Axios report citing the Associated Press (AP), the US government does not have complete say over what the gulf is named as the US has jurisdiction over roughly 46% of it, while Mexico and Cuba control 49% and 5%, respectively.
Concurrently, the AP’s style guide revision notice says that while the Gulf of Mexico naming has been there for more than 400 years, it “will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen” as the AP is has an international audience and has to ensure the names of places are easily recognizable everywhere.
Google Maps — and Apple Maps, though most of the heat is on Google Maps at present — did the necessary changes to make the renaming possible on its end in the US and across the world for the sake of clarity. It announced that Google Maps users in the US will see the “Gulf of America” naming convention, while people in Mexico will see “Gulf of Mexico.” Everyone else gets to see both names, with one in parentheticals.
Negative reaction
Of course, as savvy tech users might be accustomed to doing, hackles were raised.
Angry Google Maps users sent negative reviews and reports noting the “mislabeling” of the Gulf of Mexico in the US and non-Mexico parts of the world. Google then blocked Gulf of America reviews and apparently deleted some negative reviews following the barrage of criticism.
Mexico, meanwhile, is threatening to sue Google for making the renaming adjustments.
Maps as politics
The Philippines itself has its own struggles with making itself heard on Google Maps, as the West Philippine Sea — also known as (part of) the South China Sea — is also not necessarily named or labeled on Google Maps unless you’re in the Philippines and type in “West Philippine Sea.” Then you get a map pin to the middle of the ocean, west of the Philippines and south of China.
In the US as well, it should also be noted that Trump renamed a mountain. In the same executive order through which he renamed the Gulf of Mexico for US interests, he also renamed an Alaskan mountain historically called Denali back to a name coined in 1896 — Mount McKinley, after a US president. Google also noted it will follow suit in search results and map nomenclature.
These are not the only instances of map-related tweaks and adjustments out there — there are many more throughout history — but as you can imagine, a tech company in the business of providing map information has to give in to these concerns, partially out of the need to provide contextually accurate information where applicable, but also to avoid the worst lawsuits as necessary for it to thrive or remain otherwise profitable.
Technology, by the very nature of its existence, will always have some kind of political connection, from determining who gets access to it — the haves and have nots of social inequality — to what effects it has on society as a whole, as in the case of online maps and search results.
As you can imagine, it’s quite a show, but if anything, it underscores how the politics of maps and mapmaking do not exist in a vacuum, even if we’d like it to not mess with our gadgets and doodads. – Rappler.com