MapQuest puts up billboards in Toronto with directions to Lake Ontario. One day later, they’re gone

On Sept. 10, MapQuest put up billboards of driving directions to Lake Ontario from that very spot on 43 Lower Jarvis St. (left). As of the morning of Sept. 11, the posters were missing.

MapQuest is making it crystal clear that it will not be charting new waters. Lake Ontario is still Lake Ontario.

Their continued message that this Great Lake will not be renamed to Lake America has been plastered across six-foot billboards in six different cities across the continent: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Toronto.

“It’s still Lake Ontario. And we’re still here,” the poster reads. Depending on the location, the California-based map company provides driving directions on how to get to Lake Ontario from that very intersection.

The signs were posted up in downtown Toronto at 43 Lower Jarvis St., located south of St. Lawrence Market, on Thursday. As of 11:30 a.m. on Friday morning, however, the billboards appeared to have been taken down.

“The poster may be gone, but Lake Ontario remains Lake Ontario on MapQuest and the route is still there whenever you need it,” MapQuest General Manager Doug Berger told CTV News.

MapQuest has repeatedly expressed support for keeping Lake Ontario’s name as is after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to call it Lake America and Google Maps updated its maps to reflect that change for users in the U.S.

First, MapQuest shared its stance with a screenshot of its map still calling the Great Lake by its original name. Then, MapQuest created a name generator for users to name Lake Ontario whatever they want.

“We’re not changing the name of Lake Ontario. Name it whatever you want at your leisure: gulfof.mapquest.com/lakeontario,” the company said in a social media post on Aug. 27.

The mapping company has even made its own merchandise collection with sweaters, T-shirts and tote bags displaying various designs reiterating “we’re not changing” Lake Ontario’s name.

MapQuest’s recent insertion into politics has catapulted its GPS app to the top of the charts on Apple’s App store—the highest it has ever reached in the company’s 30-year history.

Berger says the company’s job is to provide clear, familiar and useful directions to those who use their platform.

“The routes are real, the locations are real and Lake Ontario is the name users will find when they open MapQuest,” Berger said.