this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2025
666 points (99.4% liked)

News

25226 readers
3832 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Summary

Google Maps has blocked reviews for the Gulf of Mexico after backlash over renaming it "Gulf of America" for U.S. users, following a Trump executive order.

Critics accused Google of censorship after it removed negative reviews. Google defended the move, citing policies against off-topic content.

Mexico’s President Sheinbaum opposed the change and may take legal action. Apple Maps also adopted the new name.

The controversy adds to concerns over tech companies aligning with Trump, following Meta’s rollback of fact-checking and diversity initiatives.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 141 points 1 week ago (6 children)

Just downloaded Organic Maps as a replacement. No ads/tracking plus it's open source and uses OSM. Seems pretty cool so far.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Magic Earth is a great companion for turn-based driving GPS. I just need these apps business search and discovery to be better. For example, it’s really easy to find coffee shops and compare quickly using google maps and it’s basically impossible on open source methods. Wider adoption should help but it feels years away for normal people with short patience to try.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I was going to mention that if you're out and about, StreetComplete and Every Door and MapComplete are excellent for gamifying casual contributions. OsmAnd has savable custom searches.

But if you're wanting to compare, I'm gussing you might be wanting more than opening hours and cuisine, perhaps reviews?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

OSM community may add a locale metadata for Gulf of America for en-US.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Totally useless for me, unfortunately. I'm in a new town and a new country and the lack of information on it compared to either Google or Apple makes it something I have no reason to use.

I hope it gets better so I can switch. I really don't have a choice right now if I want to get around and just do basic things like find out what shops are open.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Register an OSM account and be the change you want to see in your local map!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)

How can I be the change I want to see when I don't have the information I need in the first place?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

I only fill things in for places I've been or am already familiar with.

You can also check websites for places. You can get the site from Google Maps, of a web search, and start to fill things in you see missing.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I don’t mean that you need to enter info there that you don’t have. But - you found a new shop? Cool. Enter it in OSM. Or checking it’s correctly in OSM. Or append their opening hours to the data set or…

For some easy edits, there’s e.g. the android(?) app StreetComplete which will show „quests“ on OSM in your area to complete datasets. Like „is this street lit?“ „what surface does this road have?“, „are there board walks?“, „what’s this house number here?“, „what’s name of this street?“ and so on.

You can do such things on an afternoon stroll in your area and it will help you learn your surroundings and discover things.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

I'm in the us and it doesn't even recognize street names on my city. Labeling buisnesses doesn't matter.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Yeah I tried to get past bad naming but it's just very annoying to have all the places in your town named as if they are in the next town over the river in a different province !

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Yes, it’s excellent. OSM will very likely accept the new name as well over time.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

No. Don't give up the fight this easily. Google will eventually allow reviews again once this whole thing calms down. And that's when we strike again.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

If you really want to stick it to Google, the best way to do so as an individual is by dropping their products. Better to support products/companies you can trust than to try to bully a soulless corporation into acting like it gives a shit again.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Guys this isn't activism, this isn't protest, this isn't going to stop fascism. Go outside.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

I can't go outside. I'm surrounded by MAGA hats that want me dead.