Report from the Washington Post
In Brief – Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum continues to call on Google to reverse changes it has made to its Maps service following the executive order from US President Donald Trump changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in the US Government’s Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). Following that presidential order and the change in the official government naming registry, which Google says is part if its longstanding naming policy for Maps, the name of the gulf was changed in Maps based on the location of a user. Google reports that US-based users see “Gulf of America”. Mexico-based users see “Gulf of Mexico”. Users everywhere else see “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)”. When that change was initially announced by Google, President Sheinbaum objected and threated to file a civil suit against the company. Following Google’s explanation of its policy, Sheinbaum has reiterated her objection to the company’s actions and argues that the US Government’s name change only applies to the portion of the gulf that extends 22 nautical miles from the US coast, not the entire body of water. Mexico is now demanding that Google strictly limit any reference to the Gulf of America on the Maps platform to that 22-mile marine area, adding that “Any extension beyond that zone exceeds the authority of any national government or private entity. Should that be the case, the Government of Mexico will take the appropriate legal actions as deemed necessary.” According to Sovereign Limits, a database of international boundaries that accounts for other larger measures of territorial waters, the US has control over about 46 percent of the Gulf, while Mexico controls about 49 percent, and Cuba about 5 percent.
Context – Apple Maps and Microsoft’s Bing Maps have both instituted gulf naming policies like Google’s. MapQuest, one of the earliest online map services, has maintained the traditional name “Gulf of Mexico” for all users and has released an online tool allowing users to name the gulf whatever they want.