MapQuest sticks with Lake Ontario: hundreds of thousands have already downloaded it

MapQuest has picked up hundreds of thousands of downloads since last Thursday after deciding to keep the name Lake Ontario on its maps, even after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for “Lake America” to be used in the United States, according to MacRumors. If anyone’s enjoying this strange fight over the smallest Great Lake, it’s probably the people at MapQuest.

The reaction has been huge: MacRumors reports that the MapQuest app is now topping the download charts in Canada and has climbed to fourth place in the United States.

MapQuest Download

MapQuest makes an unexpected comeback

MapQuest brings back a very specific memory: printing directions before heading out the door. The company has had apps on iOS and Android for years, and now hundreds of thousands of people have downloaded them since last Thursday alone. The company says MapQuest’s usage is up about fifty times over as of August 30.

MacRumors also says Trump has been pushing Apple to use “Lake America” in Apple Maps, something Apple still hasn’t agreed to. Google Maps, on the other hand, is already showing that name in the United States, according to MacRumors.

For now, MapQuest has managed to climb back up the App Store charts in the simplest way possible: by keeping the name millions of people already know. The download numbers suggest that choice landed with a lot of users on both sides of the border running through the lake.