Hahaha I thought Google was benevolently collecting my personal data for my own good. I consented right? /s
Anything but google.
Apple?
No, they’re just virtue-signaling goodness while being so closed that they can never really be trusted. Their maps will silently fall in line during the next big unrelated news cycle. Their “Find My” location spy network that tracks everything in America will then be put to task, among other evils one will never know about due to the OS and chips all being so closed to external observation.
I wonder how location dependent it is?
It shows “Gulf Of America” if you’re in the USA. If you’re in Mexico, it still shows as “Gulf Of Mexico”.
Gulf of America.
Don’t catch me slipping tho.
Gulf of America.
Guns in my area.
The irony is that it doesn’t specify which America.
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Good point that naming it “Gulf of Americas” would solve all issues 😅
Funny how a single “S” prevented a hit and gave us shit
ecosia all the way
No better time than the present to switch to OpenStreetMap
For Android, I use OsmAnd~ which uses OpenStreetMap data and allows you to download maps to calculate routes offline, something Google Maps couldn’t do for routes by foot and by bike last time I tried.
It also has better coverage for some small paths in natural areas like forests. Give it a try!
In OSM ″Gulf of America″ is added under official_name:en-US tag so if any app uses this tag to display names, it will show up.
Here is the link to OSM object for Gulf of Mexico. And here is a thread that discusses naming.
Any country/language can call any object as they want. This change of course was dumb and petty and doubt it will be adopted by other regions, but this is nothing new or special. Google Maps currently show ″Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)″ for me. When checking in another language it shows same naming standard.
Is using alternative maps even worth it if you have google’s Android and location has to go through google play services anyways?
Google Maps are pretty barebones, but at the same time reliable for general / basic use. Depends on region, but OSM usually will be more detailed. It is also possible your region has some local provider that is even better.
Google Maps in my region excel only for navigation quality for cars and search for commercial stuff (businesses and shops)
It won’t prevent Google from tracking your location, but it might help support these alternative maps by increasing their popularity on the PlayStore and whatnot.
you can use gps without play services.
How?
Disable “(improve) location accuracy” in settings and location history in Google settings (I think)
google play services would still periodically query your location, even when on gps only. it’s a privileged app so you can’t even block it from doing so. MicroG (on lineageOS or calyxOS), or GrapheneOS’ sandboxed play services can help with that
The OsmAnd~ app, from fdroid, is the premium (and paid) version og OsmAnd, also known as OsmAnd+.
If you use the fdroid version, and enjoy the app, consider donating to the developers through other means.
I’ve been using it and evangelizing it for some time now. I don’t have a data plan and it works. My data, location, preferences or anything is not sold to anyone.
It can be a little overwhelming at first. It can be difficult to use at times (the search isn’t great), but in using it, I feel like I’m a part of something good and I can rest better knowing that.
OsmAnd is a nightmare in terms of user experience! I dropped it 8 years ago because it was a horror. I gave it a try again last month because, you know, maybe people have done something about the useless navigation, the totally overpacked UI, the sluggish behaviour etc. Guess what? It’s the same terrible (!) app it was 8 years ago!
FCK Google, but if that’s all that there is as an alternative, well…
I use Magic Earth. It’s not Open Source afaik but they claim they dont collect data (…🤔). I don’t believe this so use these apps as little as possible.
Greetings, an open source enthousiast
Agree with you, OsmAnd is practically unusable for me due to the ancient UI. I hated it every time I used it.
I found Organic Maps to be a decent modern alternative. It’s open source and uses data from openstreetmaps as well, but it’s a million times less cluttered.
This is pathetic and reeks of insecurity big time. Hope that this debacle improves your QoL, Americans.
American here. It’s freaking embarrassing. Not as much as all the other shit, and certainly not as sad and tragic. Our neighbors elected a cartoon villain and his best buddy, another cartoon villain.
Eh I’m on the opposite side, despite being a massive lefty. Why would an american company not follow an American dictate just for America? (It’s still called the Gulf of Mexico on Google in every other country) It sets a wild precedent where private businesses refuse to follow the fairly inconsequential requests of their government.
What’s funny is the rest of the world gets “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)” which ups the insecurity I expect.
Seems like all the high-visibility, internet-focused corporations are rushing forward to bend the knee.
I guess it would be pretty interesting to see one of them do the opposite. As in, how easily and quickly would the exec and other branches be able to attack them, maybe even to destroy them?
I just did literally the only thing I CAN do, which is rate it 1 star and call out their spinelessness. I’m sure this token, irrelevant act will be ignored at best or manually removed at worst. But until they drag me off to the gulag I’m absolutely not going to shut up and play along.
Fuck Trump, Musk, their MAGA cult, and anyone who enables or colludes with them or fails to fight back.
Poop. I was hoping I could leave a review but can’t
Mexico should rename “America”
Divided States of America
because that’s what it really is
You mean Estados Unidos ? In Spanish, ‘America’ already refers to the north and south continents, not to the USA
🙃
Look at this, even Australia is laughing at us from the other side of the globe!
Wake up people, it’s always been the Gulf of America. /s
Degoogled already! Installed /e/os on my Pixel 6a! A little irritated though as it seems like literally every app I’ve used is tied to Google!!
