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Google Maps updates Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America' in U.S. following federal name change
Summary by The San Francisco Editorial Desk · As published by NBC Bay Area (KNTV, NBC)
· August 30, 2026
· 1 min read
Photo: NBC Bay Area (KNTV, NBC) · view original
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Summary created by The San Francisco Editorial Desk — automated, rule-governed Published by NBC Bay Area (KNTV, NBC) Original story Read at the source Source published Aug 30, 2026 Indexed here Aug 30, 2026 AI assistance Automated summary drawn from the source’s own published text Prepublication human review No — editorial rules, flagged-item review, and published samples
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Key points The federal government has officially renamed Lake Ontario to Lake America in the US. As a result, users in the US will see the new name on Google Maps, while users in Canada will still see the original name.
Google has started updating its maps to reflect a name change for a major body of water. The federal government has officially renamed Lake Ontario to Lake America in the US. As a result, users in the US will see the new name on Google Maps, while users in Canada will still see the original name.
Users accessing the map from outside the US and Canada will see both names displayed. The update is part of Google's standard policy to reflect official government sources.
Further details on the name change and Google's mapping updates are available from the company's announcement.
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NBC Bay Area (KNTV, NBC) reported and published this story. The San Francisco selected it, summarised the key facts above, and links to the original. We did not report this story and we added no reporting of our own to it.
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Category: News ·
Published: August 30, 2026 ·
Source: NBC Bay Area (KNTV, NBC) ·
Reading time: 1 min
Frequently asked about this story
What is this story about? Google has started updating its maps to reflect a name change for a major body of water. The federal government has officially renamed Lake Ontario to Lake America in the US. As a result, users in…
When was this published? This article was first published on August 30, 2026 by NBC Bay Area (KNTV, NBC) and curated for The San Francisco readers.
Who reported this story? This story was reported by NBC Bay Area (KNTV, NBC). To learn more about how The San Francisco selects and reviews stories, see our editorial standards .
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