Sep 11, 2026
MapQuest has resurrected itself as the internet’s premier cartographic troll, taking aim at President Donald Trump with a highway-sized dose of geographic reality.
The mid-90s navigation pioneer is taking a victory lap after defying an executive order that sought to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” according to CTV News.
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While tech heavyweights Google Maps and Apple Maps quietly updated their systems within U.S. borders, MapQuest refused to budge. That defiance triggered a massive spike in app downloads, propelling the legacy brand back into mainstream pop culture for the first time in decades.
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Now, the company is doubling down on its newfound internet-hero status by plastering street-level ads and billboards across major cities, emphasizing its grievance with the latest U.S. government directive.
Directions to reality
In Chicago, MapQuest trolled the administration directly with a six-foot billboard at State and Hubbard streets. The display outlines step-by-step driving directions from that exact downtown intersection straight to Lake Ontario, anchored by a blunt tagline: “It’s still Lake Ontario. And we’re still here”.
Similar ad postings have emerged in high-visibility corridors across North America, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington and Toronto.
“People rely on maps to make the world feel navigable and familiar,” MapQuest general manager Doug Berger told MediaPost. “While keeping the names that people know and trust, this campaign brings our commitment to life while tapping into 30 years of nostalgia, and puts it all right back on the map.”
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Political pushback
The presidential name change has faced fierce opposition from Canadian leaders. Prime Minister Mark Carney dismissed the unilateral American decree, emphasizing that Lake Ontario predates the U.S. Declaration of Independence by centuries.
Carney stated that “naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario,” according to CTV News.
While major modern navigation apps fell in line, MapQuest is using its retro paper-style directions to prove that sticking to facts can be the ultimate PR power move.
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Leslie Kennedy served as an editor at Thomson Reuters and for Star Media Group, followed by a number of years as a writer and editor and content manager in marketing communications, before returning to her editorial roots. She is a graduate of Humber College’s post-graduate journalism program and has been a professional writer and editor ever since.
