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MapQuest<\/a> stood up to President Donald Trump, and now its app is reaping the rewards. <\/p>\n The \u201cOG of online mapping,\u201d as the company calls itself, announced<\/a> on Thursday that it would not change the name of Lake Ontario on its maps to Lake America, despite Trump\u2019s executive order directing<\/a> the U.S. Department of the Interior to update the lake\u2019s name in the U.S. geographic naming service. As a result, MapQuest\u2019s mobile app downloads soared, sending the iOS app to the No. 4 position on the U.S. App Store\u2019s Top Charts for apps (not including games) as of Monday morning on the U.S. east coast.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n In Canada\u2019s App Store, the app reached No. 2 overall as of Sunday evening. <\/p>\n The 30-year-old company remarked that it received \u201chundreds of thousands\u201d of new downloads since its decision to keep the name Lake Ontario in place, and saw its app\u2019s usage climb to 50 times above its normal levels. <\/p>\n \u201cWe took the same approach we did with the Gulf of Mexico: be part of the conversation, and give people an app that keeps the names they\u2019re familiar with,\u201d said Doug Berger, General Manager of MapQuest, in a statement<\/a>. \u201cHundreds of thousands of people signaled to us this weekend that we got it right by downloading our app.\u201d<\/p>\n MapQuest also released an online tool that lets you jokingly rename<\/a> Lake Ontario to whatever you want it to be, then share the results on social media. The company had offered a similar tool last year, after Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. <\/p>\n Trump\u2019s decision to rename the body of water bordering the U.S and Canada comes as trade talks broke down, leading the U.S. to impose new 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, with Canada poised to retaliate. <\/p>\n On Saturday, Google Maps announced it was complying with Trump\u2019s decision, explaining that it updates Google Maps to reflect the name changes in official government sources. In the U.S., that\u2019s the Geographic Names Information System<\/a>\u00a0(GNIS). The updated map will only be shown to users in the U.S., while those in Canada will see Lake Ontario, and those outside of the two countries will see both names. <\/p>\n Both Apple Maps and Google Maps<\/a> previously changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America last year, after Trump issued a similar name-changing executive order.<\/p>\n As of Monday morning, Apple Maps has yet to rename the Great Lake to Lake America and has not issued a statement about its plans. <\/p>\n MapQuest has changed hands several times over the years, having been acquired by AOL shortly after going public. It then ended up with Verizon for a time, as a result of Verizon\u2019s acquisition of AOL. In 2019, Verizon sold MapQuest to internet advertising company System1<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n