31–40 of 81 posts
It’s nothing special. If I visit Google Maps (France) then the channel of water between France and the UK is labelled ‘Manche’. If I visit Google Maps (US) the same body of water is labeled ‘English Channel’. The real notable event is the official change of name by the US government, not the follow on regionalization of maps.
It’s nothing special. If I visit Google Maps (France) then the channel of water between France and the UK is labelled ‘Manche’. If I visit Google Maps (US) the same body of water is labeled ‘English Channel’. The real notable event is the official change of name by the US government, not the follow on regionalization of maps.
Correct.
Also this is a very politicised name change. Ergo, in the USA it will be embraced by supporters of the orange one, whilst everybody else in the USA will continue to call it "Gulf of Mexico".
As this was clearly done to stir up controversy, I can't think of anything more ridiculous. The job of a head of state is to unite a people, not divide them.
I'd expect nothing less from Google and the other FAANGs. I wonder what OSM will do?
What won't happen, is that visitors from the US will see that new name, at least in most OSM apps and websites. OpenStreetMap is not limited to one renderer or app, and anyone who builds one can choose how to handle localisation. But to support this name based on the tags proposed now such an app would have to prefer official names over common names, or explicitly choose this local alternative over the common name.
This is what the relevant name tags could end up looking like soon (other languages omitted for brevity):
name=Golfo de México
name:en=Gulf of Mexico
name:es=Golfo de México
official_name:en_US=Gulf of America
alt_name:en_US=Gulf of America
A really simple map might only render whatever is noted in name. A map which takes the user's locale into account, or which explicitly chooses a base language or locale, would use a cascading fallback, which for en_US looks like:
* Try name:en_US,
* If missing, use name:en
* If missing, use name
So for now that would not yield 'Gulf of America', because usually neither alternative nor official names are considered for rendering.
In any case, the sea can be found using search under all those names.
USA may as well change it's name to "Trump land", and Germans will still call it Vereinigte Staaten and Iranians will call it Great Satan.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it should have been: "Gulf of the Americas"
Even "Gulf of America" wouldn't be SO bad if people like me (non-US English speaker) can wean ourselves off the habit of referring to the US as "America". I'm going to start doing my bit.
I'd expect nothing less from Google and the other FAANGs. I wonder what OSM will do?
The emerging consensus is that there is now an alternative English name, and that this is likely to end up as an official name for en_US (which can either mean American English, or the English name according to the United States) as well. It seems unlikely that the generic endonym (Golfo de México) will change any time soon, and unless this English alternative is adopted more broadly, it is likely that for the forese…
What's so odd about it? Countries do that all the time, Czech Republic is now Czechia, Turkey is Türkiye, Haźlach is now Hażlach. USA may as well change it's name to "Trump land", and Germans will still call it Vereinigte Staaten and Iranians will call it Great Satan.
I guess the other odd thing about this is how quickly the change appears to have been adopted.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The emerging consensus is that there is now an alternative English name, and that this is likely to end up as an official name for en_US (which can either mean American English, or the English name according to the United States) as well. It seems unlikely that the generic endonym (Golfo de México) will change any time soon, and unless this English alternative is adopted more broadly, it is likely that for the forese…
This is an excellent, detailed comment — it's so good I want to ensure it's exactly as you intended. In your "This is what the tags could end up looking like soon" example, should at least one of those (alt_name:en_US?) be "Gulf of America"?
Countries can tell companies what the maps of their countries should look like and what things should be called. For example, Google shows different info about the Kashmir region depending on whether you are in Pakistan or India or external to both, because of how the Indian and Pakistani governments define the borders and names of the region. If the US government changes a thing's name, then Google will change that…
It’s nothing special. If I visit Google Maps (France) then the channel of water between France and the UK is labelled ‘Manche’. If I visit Google Maps (US) the same body of water is labeled ‘English Channel’. The real notable event is the official change of name by the US government, not the follow on regionalization of maps.
> The real notable event is the official change of name by the US government Correct. Also this is a very politicised name change. Ergo, in the USA it will be embraced by supporters of the orange one, whilst everybody else in the USA will continue to call it "Gulf of Mexico". As this was clearly done to stir up controversy, I can't think of anything more ridiculous. The job of a head of state is to unite a people, no…
Most Americans support ‘the orange one’. There was a poll conducted on this quite recently.