AMERICA F YEAH Google goes gaga over the Gulf of Mexico "We will update Google Maps in the US quickly to show Mount McKinley and Gulf of America." Eric Berger Jan 28, 2025 9:41 am | 216 As of Tuesday morning, the Gulf of Mexico was still the Gulf of Mexico on Google Maps in the United States. Credit: Google Maps As of Tuesday morning, the Gulf of Mexico was still the Gulf of Mexico on Google Maps in the United States. Credit: Google Maps Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreWell, that didn't take long.Google Maps, the most popular mapping software in the world, said on Monday evening that it will begin using new names for two prominent geographical features in North America, the Gulf of Mexico and Mount Denali. As soon as "they have been updated in official government sources," Google said on the social media site X, it would change the names of these features to the Gulf of America and Mount McKinley.The announcement comes a little less than a week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to, in his words, "promote the extraordinary heritage of our Nation and ensure future generations of American citizens celebrate the legacy of our American heroes." This included renaming the Gulf and the highest mountain in North America.The order declared that, within 30 days, the Secretary of the Interior should take all appropriate actions to change the names of the prominent body of water and mountain. To do this, the database of name and location information published by the US Geological Survey, the Geographic Names Information System, should be updated accordingly. These files are revised on a bi-monthly basis."When that happens, we will update Google Maps in the US quickly to show Mount McKinley and Gulf of America," the company said Monday.The change will likely only be visible to users based in the United States. As part of what it described as a longstanding practice, Google added, "When official names vary between countries, Maps users see their official local name. Everyone in the rest of the world sees both names. That applies here too."Like a number of other tech leaders, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai has been seeking to develop a closer relationship with Trump since his election. Pichai was among the tech leaders at Trump's inauguration last week, and he also met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago before he took office. Mar-a-Lago, by the way, is located on the Atlantic coast of Florida, which is opposite from the state's Gulf of Mexico shoreline.Eric BergerSenior Space EditorEric BergerSenior Space Editor Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering everything from astronomy to private space to NASA policy, and author of two books: Liftoff, about the rise of SpaceX; and Reentry, on the development of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon. A certified meteorologist, Eric lives in Houston. 216 Comments