MapQuest skyrockets on app stores after 'Lake America' refusal
MapQuest has seen a massive surge in popularity after publicly refusing to rename 'Lake Ontario' to 'Lake America' in accordance with a Trump Administration executive order. While Google Maps complied with the order, MapQuest's defiance has turned the legacy brand into a symbol of resistance, driving significant app store downloads.
Why it matters
It highlights the intersection of corporate autonomy, digital mapping standards, and political influence in the era of AI-driven information control.
Trump wants mapmakers to switch to "Lake America." MapQuest has said no. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images MapQuest, the self-proclaimed "OG of online mapping," says it's sticking with "Lake Ontario." Its usage has skyrocketed 50x, the company tells BI. It all started as a "joke about being so old we don't know how to update our maps." It's 2026, and all things late '90s and early 2000s are cool again. Including, apparently, MapQuest. The self-proclaimed " OG of online mapping " has shot up to the fourth-most-downloaded free program on Apple's App Store in the US. It's the most-downloaded Apple app in Canada and the 21st most popular free app on Google Play Store, according to AppFigures. MapQuest's renaissance comes after the free online mapping service wrote several posts saying it will continue to label the easternmost Great Lake as "Lake Ontario."
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