Maps are not neutral objects in how we look at the world

NEW YORK (AP) – Maps. Where would we be without them?

Key points

• In August, President Donald Trump signed an order directing the federal administration to rename Lake Ontario to "Lake America" as a trade war with Canada continues.
• The vote was 164 countries in favor of the change, six abstaining and one – the United States – against.
• They can anchor us in a place or support us secure somewhere else.
• But while the physical geography of our world can be set in stone, the reality is that maps are not.

NEW YORK (AP) – Maps. Where would we be without them? And how would we even know?

They can anchor us in a place or support us secure somewhere else. They can show us global political realities via the drawing of contested country borders.

We take it as truth that not only does X mark the spot, it demonstrates us the size of the spot, what the spot's name is and how the spot compares with other spots.

But while the physical geography of our world can be set in stone, the reality is that maps are not. There are choices involved in everything from which countries are centered to their size relative to each other and what the objects on the map are called. The choices create the perspective and they affect the way we assume the world looks. Where there are choices, there can be contention.

That was evident this month at the United Nations when a General Assembly vote endorsed a map with a different way of looking at the world than has more commonly been applied. This map indicated Africa more accurately and larger. The vote was 164 countries in favor of the change, six abstaining and one – the United States – against.

In August, President Donald Trump signed an order directing the federal administration to rename Lake Ontario to "Lake America" as a trade war with Canada continues. In January 2025, he signed an order renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America." Some tech firms such as Google and Apple followed along with the changes for U.S. Users. MapQuest did not, nor did Canada.

"To the extent that maps come to shape the way that we think about different places and people who inhabit them, maps structure our politics in ways that then have consequences, " remarked Alex Moulton, assistant professor in the geography and environmental science department at Hunter College.

In short, maps are not neutral objects in how we look at the world is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.