Map App Boss Reveals Stunning Surge After Defying Trump
Brian Lawless/PA Images via Getty Images The boss of vintage navigation company MapQuest has revealed the stunning spike in figures its service has seen since defying Donald Trump.
Trump, 80, signed an executive order to change Lake Ontario to “Lake America” on August 27.
The same day, MapQuest posted a map on X with the lake’s original name, and the caption “We’re not changing it.” Both Google Maps and Apple Maps have bowed to Trump’s demands and changed the lake’s name for American users.
MapQuest’s stance saw them rewarded with a major spike in downloads, now more than 1.5 million in under a week, according to the company’s general manager Doug Berger.
They remain the No.1 app overall on the U.S. and Canadian Apple App Store on Wednesday.
The company also has an online tool that allows users to rename Lake Ontario to any name they choose.
They launched the tool last year after Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” the day of his second inauguration in January 2025.
Speaking to Erin Burnett on Wednesday’s OutFront , Berger said the major rise in downloads and installations of their app has been “completely shocking,” adding, “what a ride so far.” The reaction follows a new Reuters/Ipsos poll finding Americans overwhelmingly oppose Trump’s latest rebrand.
In the poll, 63 percent of people disapproved of the new name for the lake that borders the U.S. and Canada, and only 14 percent supported the move.
Burnett asked the MapQuest boss if people were actually using the maps, or merely downloading it as a protest against Trump’s latest rebrand.
“Usage is through the roof,” Berger said, saying while there was no data to share at this point, they were monitoring screenshots of the app posted to social media.
“They’re actively contributing to the conversation, telling us what features they want us to build, and our team is extremely hard at work... bringing those features to life.” MapQuest was launched in 1996 as the first commercial web mapping service.
The president’s son, Eric, quickly clapped back after the X post signaling its decision to not change the name to please his father.
“Shocking to see you’re still alive…," Eric Trump said on X .
5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on www.thedailybeast.com — the content belongs to The Daily Beast.
