MapQuest stood up to President Donald Trump, and now its app is reaping the rewards.
The “OG of online mapping,” as the company calls itself, announced on Thursday that it would not change the name of Lake Ontario on its maps to Lake America, despite Trump’s executive order directing the U.S. Department of the Interior to update the lake’s name in the U.S. geographic naming service. As a result, MapQuest’s mobile app downloads soared, sending the iOS app to the No. 4 position on the U.S. App Store’s Top Charts for apps (not including games) as of Monday morning on the U.S. east coast.
MapQuest also reached the No. 8 position overall in the U.S. App Store across both apps and games, and it became the No. 1 Navigation app in the United States.
Great! Hope people more move away from Google Maps. OSM would be even better, but MapQuest is a good step away from the Monopoly of Google.
Edit: Just realized that in Google Maps the acronym for the Great Lakes is no longer “HOMES” but could now be known as “SHAME”.
If you’ve got a favorite replacement for the Google Maps mobile app, this would be a great place to tell people about it. I believe the world of Open Street Map (OSM) is likely to be a little intimidating, a little daunting, for the masses, so an easy starting point might be especially helpful.
Copy-pasting my own comment:
For using OSM on Android (edit: and iOS):
- I use OsmAnd, which is free on F-Droid. It’s very feature-rich, and I can customize it pretty much exactly how I like. There’s a good tutorial for beginners here.
- However, some people prefer the simplicity of the app CoMaps, which is available for Android, iOS, macOS, and Linux (Flathub). It’s a fork of Organic Maps that arose over disagreements with Organic’s governance (see: open letter).
- There are also specialty apps like Alpi Maps for more specialized uses of OSM (in Alpi Maps’ case, hiking).
For contributing to OSM on Android:
- I use Vespucci for more complex edits on Android, so things like adding features. (The rough iOS equivalent is Go Map!!.)
- I use StreetComplete for a more trimmed-down, gamified experience. It isn’t a power user experience like Vespucci, but it’s often really useful if you’re just on the go and want to make small but meaningful contributions.
The easiest way I’ve found to contribute local information is the iD editor on desktop; it’s the one that pops up if you click ‘Edit’ on OpenStreetMap.org. It strikes a good balance between user-friendliness and power user stuff. For full-on power users, JOSM is a good option. And the easiest way to contribute in a limited way is StreetComplete, which will ask you questions about existing features (like “does this traffic signal have a walk button for pedestrians?”)
The OpenStreetMap Wiki is a great general resource for using and contributing.
- I use StreetComplete for a more trimmed-down, gamified experience.
Another benefit for casual users is that StreetComplete doesn’t require you to worry about the details of formatting your submissions, it simply asks you if this thing is here, or what are the hours of this business, or if there is a sidewalk or what is the address number on this building and things like that, then it submits a correctly formatted response to the OSM database.
Note: OsmAnd is available on Android and iOS, too.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/osmand-maps-travel-navigate/id934850257
… Huh. Can’t believe I forgot this.
Those are great choices for navigation. What options are there for map/location based business search?
I don’t think I understand the question. OsmAnd and CoMaps are both meant to show businesses, and how much information those businesses have is, for most cases, dependent upon what’s in the underlying OSM database, not what OsmAnd or CoMaps are able to show.
On OsmAnd, for example, I’m able to go to
Configure Map>POI Overlayand select whatever type of POI I’m looking for. In CoMaps (mobile), I can select the magnifying glass and then go toCategories.In CoMaps (mobile), I can select the magnifying glass and then go to
Categories.Omfg I’m a dumbass, I never noticed the categories tab in CoMaps!
Dude, I forgot OsmAnd had an iOS version until like a couple hours ago. We’re all dumbasses on this blessed day.
Use CoMaps. It’s a privacy-first app that pulls their map data from OpenStreetMaps. If something is inaccurate on the map, you can edit it on OSM and it’ll populate to most map services. I’ve made changes and seen it pop up on Google Maps too.
I downloaded CoMaps from F-Droid (https://f-droid.org/), just to avoid the Google Play Store. Slowly de-Googling my life…
I don’t know if there is an iOS version. Apple is the OG evil company, long before Google got rid of their “Don’t Be Evil” motto, so I avoid their products. Now I’m trying to get off Android stuff too, but there aren’t many alternatives right now.
EDIT: Someone else linked a website for CoMaps and it does have an iOS app. Also an Apple and Linux desktop program. No Windows though.
FYI, here are the PrivacyGuides recommendations:
Not sure why they recommend Organic Maps over CoMaps.
It’s likely an outdated guide. Comaps forked only recently from organic maps.
CoMaps is a great app for iOS and Android. Cleaner interface than OsmAnd. FOSS and uses open street maps.
Mapquest lets you have a Rainbow Unicorn icon. Sorry OSM, MapQuest wins.
I just checked and OSM had the lake listed as Lake Ontario, so that app is good to go as well.
Tested CoMaps and Mapy but they don’t seem to have names of lakes and other bodies of water?
I was about to pivot to CoMaps but then saw this mapquest thing taking off…
One way or another, Google is out. GrapheneOS is in this week.
GrapheneOS is in this week
I really, really want to get there, just need to get with the program and find a good, late-model Pixel on the used market.
The 9 Pro has served me well since I got it shortly after release. 👍
You need nothing special. Was running on a 7 until I broke it, now on 8a. Zero issues. I buy mine used on eBay. They are all the same candy bar anymore. Does .2150 extra sq inches of screen really matter?
I used to buy the top shelf phones. Went to pixel a-types and gave never felt like I am missing anything.
OSMAnd is horrendous to use on Android if you just need to get simple directions.
It also misses a ton of roadworks in my area, so it’s quite literally unusuable. More than half the time it will try to route me along a closed road
So while the popular media is distracted by this, what is the Trump admin doing that I should actually care about?
- restarted war with Iran
- food safety is plummeting in the US
- citizens and immigrants are being locked up and deported, mostly for being the wrong skin color
- AI bubble is getting closer to popping and wiping out literally all of your savings
- everything from soda to aircraft set to go up in price after Trump fucks with aluminum supply from Canada
- Jared Kushner is strategizing with Democratic leadership
- the FCC will start going after news reporters who run stories that make Trump look bad even when they’re objectively true
- still no Epstein files (or arrests)
- flock cameras still gaining momentum
Joke’s on them, my savings was wiped out years ago.
For that final one, there was a post earlier about how Flock lost contracts only city councils ro replace them with a different surveillance provider.
It’d be better to divorce Flock from the real issue: i.e. “Neighborhood surveillance is pushing forward”.
We can’t let rat-bastards who would sell out their towns and cities pretend the grievance is just against Flock and not against all of the surveillance.
They lost them to Axon, which at least currently do not aggregate the data between districts. So still bad, but less bad
Just means Axon’s strategy is to get the contracts and the surveillance infrastructure in place first.
Theyre also continuing to extort Venezuela for its oil, and theyre still illegally holding the country’s leader as a hostage.
And their continued multi billion dollar funding, arming and propagandizing of the most genocidal apartheid state this side of the berlin wall coming down
AI bubble is getting closer to popping
i knew AI was a bubble but i hadn’t heard the other part. what’s happened besides the end of “tokenmaxxing”?
Nvidia feels the need to further escalate the cricular financing, vastly increasing its own exposure when the bubble bursts. That would be incredibly stupid for them to do unless they think they have to do it, to keep the market from imploding on itself. This kind of financial engineering should be illegal, but it isn’t.
the FCC will start going after news reporters who run stories that make Trump look bad even when they’re objectively true
I haven’t seen anything specific about this, just that dozing diaper dementia donny the daughter diddler goes off on toddler-like tantrums anytime anyone isn’t stroking his ego…
Trans people losing rights
V-Coding and forced detransition/involuntary conversion torture
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Too expensive unless you can predict exactly when the bubble is going to burst.
The market can remain irrational longer then you can remain solvent
“The DOW is over 50,000!”
*was
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Everything they do is to keep you distracted from those Epstein files.
They have plenty of other evil motives besides just distracting from the Epstein files.
Everything, including this. You should still care about this.
OpenStreetMap also has it as Lake Ontario:
They also have navigation called OSMAnd.
Here in the You Knighted States of Murica, we ain’t gon use no OSAMA maps app
No that makes sense, I hear many Americans refuse to use GPS, because no one can tell them where to drive, they drive where they want and which way they want. Not according to what some sissy computer tells them.
FREEDOM! 😋But they’ll listen to chatgpt about shooting up a school.
It’s actually more interesting than this. Open Street Map has a long history of supporting multiple names for the same place. There seems to have been a bit of an edit war since the executive order was issued, but as of now we have
<tag k="name" v="Lake Ontario"/>and<tag k="official_name:en-US" v="Lake America"/>. There are also 36 other name tags, mostly listing the name of the lake in different languages. I initially assumed that all those others were added in the last couple of days as a way to sort of protest by taking the whole thing to an absurd level. But the change log actually shows that 27 of them were already in the tags long before the executive order was issued. And honestly, I like it this way better. Instead of making Trumps announcement big to the point of absurdity, OSM has made it small to the point of inconsequence. Trump said he wanted to change the name of the lake, and OSM said “sure, whatever, your name for it can be number 28 on the list of names that people have for it. And actually, while we’re on the topic, it looks like we missed a few. Lets throw on 8 more to make sure everyone is represented.”Could someone please add tag
douchebag_name?TIA!
But I’d argue comaps is better
OSM is CoMaps’ data source.
I’m aware, probably could have worded that better on my end
Haven’t tried it, but it’s based on OpenStreetMap, so I guess it also calls it Lake Ontario.
Why is comaps better?Completely free and open source, simpler UI for anyone to get into imo
I thought OSMAND was Open Source too.
I never paid anything for using it.Osmand has a free and a paid version on play store and a fully foss version on fdroid
I’m using the one from F-Droid.
The UX is just easier to adjust to imo
OK, I’ll give it a try, although I generally use the 1 in my car. But maybe I like comaps better ?.
In my experience OsmAnd is way better than Comaps.
In OsmAnd I can type in a business name or an address and not only will it bring up the correct address but it will allow me to navigate. I can do neither in Comaps. Also OsmAnd has CarPlay/Android Auto support with the paid version.
Comaps has carplay as well
Yeah I mean at the end of the day it really comes down to preference
I haven’t tried comaps, so maybe it has similar features, but the OsmAnd profiles and plugins are great. Driving, hiking, biking, walking, basically any form of transportation can be used and with plugins and overlays show info pertinent to each method while excluding extraneous info.
And if you get it from fdroid or compile it yourself(?) it’s the pro version with more features for free.
Needs Android Auto support
Android Auto is a proprietary Google service, and so usually is restricted to the Google Play Store version of an app.
Ah good call! I’ll have to try that.
Has it? Just unfortunately only on the google store version 😭
Isn’t the navigation app called OsmAnd?
Yes it is, sorry my mistake.
Is OsmAnd legit? It’s not from OSM directly from what I recall
yes, good app
Thanks for sharing!
Worst product name ever.
Also, crappy app too. I appreciate that they are trying, but it has been crap for years.
Tried it again a few months ago. The spoken navigation wounded like it just huffed a can of butane. Real low, slow and fucked up sounding.
Canada should rename Lake Superior to Lake Obama, “because Obama is Superior”.
“because Obama is Superior”
I love that idea. This phrase makes it super-easy to remember the name change and what went before.
And the new mnemonic is HOME-O
Love this! They should just add Obama so it reads ‘Lake Superior Obama’
Just call it Lake Obama is Superior
Mapquest still exists? Encarta it!
I asked Jeeves, and he told me it still exists. To celebrate, I played some Neopets and then logged into a fun MUSH game.
Yeah right. Going to get that AOL disc that came with PCGamer and check if I’ve got mail next.
TIL MapQuest is still around.
Years ago, I had one of those standalone GPS mappers that used it for its database. It always gave you the option to choose between shortest time and shortest distance. Generally, I went with the former, but this one time we were heading home and not in any special hurry, so I said let’s try shortest distance just for kicks.
Next thing you know, we’re on a hunting trail in the Adirondacks in a Geo Metro that was definitely NOT rated for it and my wife was absolutely freaking out while the kids were getting tossed around in the back. Good times.
Google maps does that as well. I was at Grand Teton and heading to my next camp site. 56 miles, 2.5 hours. That seems a bit low on speed. Checked closer, and yep it wanted me to take my van on a pretty rough logging road. I rerouted through Jackson WY.
Google Maps is notoriously bad with cycle routes. It has sent us over sand paths where you can’t cycle at all, when better routes are available. In cities, OSM also gives better routes.
I used it back in high school (2001ish) to give a friend’s mom directions to someone’s house. It could have taken a back country road with like 2 turns and be there in 6 minutes, but it instead took it to the nearest major road completely out of the way for a trip twice as long.
It was still on its infancy
I was sadly surprised to find out that Kagi maps follwed Trumps lead on misnaming both the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario.
I’m likely to ditch them over this. It’s not just a matter of principal. If I can’t trust them to stand up to Trumps temper tantrums on this, how can I trust that any of their other results haven’t been tampered with?
Still says Lake Ontario for me when checking from Switzerland.
Both Lake Ontario and Gulf Of Mexico for me and I’m in the USA.
that is probably playing both sides as much as possible like google does (Lake America if you enter it from US, Ontario otherwise)
If it makes you feel better a lot of Canadian and other international services now display it as America because they are cheap and are just all pulling it from the same Google API source.
They pull from MapBox. Also I see lake Ontario on a US IP
Kagi has always given me bad vibes. So I’m not really that surprised over this.
I’ve been happy with Organic Maps
Isn’t it over now? Did you mean CoMaps?
I don’t think he knows about CoMaps pip.
Since america now calls it Lake america we can nickname it Lac inférieure.
Apple Maps still shows it as its real name, although they eventually capitulated to the dumb alternate name to the Gulf of Mexico. I doubt it’ll last long.
Apple maps also took forever to update on the gulf change so I expect you are correct.
Apple maps suck peniz
MapQuest needs to add Android Auto support. Loving the icons, though!
Second that
Once again Going Woke doesn’t equal Going Broke
The whole renaming thing is a distraction tactic at best.
I personally am a huge fan of CoMaps. It uses OSM data
Seconding CoMaps.
Completely replaced google maps for me a while back. It works as in-car navigation (with GPS audio queues for when noone else is doing nav), downloading maps is a highlighted feature instead of being burried in menus and it does not live sync to traffic or ask for route changes. It simply does its job and does not ask for your attention after it gets going.
Not a single idea or policy or point of view espoused by MAGA is genuinely popular. It’s all bots, bullshit, and voter suppression.
Just checked Waze, and they are still showing Lake Ontario.
Waze? Ew.
You know that’s Israeli tech that shares data with Palantir right?
You know it’s owned by Google so it’s really weird that it’s still showing that
Honestly I didn’t. I just knew they shared data with Palantir and when I went to confirm that I also found out that it was an Israeli app.
Is Google supposed to be better?
Luckily I tried the app once and deleted it instantly because it was burning through battery at a ridiculous rate.
Thank you
Waze is Google. The change is coming.
