This week, MapQuest, the navigation program that launched in 1996, has suddenly climbed to the top of app charts after defying President Donald Trump’s executive order to change Lake Ontario’s name to Lake America in federal databases.
“We’re not changing it,” the mapping app declared on social media, along with an image naming Lake Ontario.
And many consumers took notice. As of Wednesday, MapQuest is the most-downloaded free app, surpassing ChatGPT.
“Welcome to the resistance...MapQuest,” one social media user wrote, while another wrote, “I just downloaded MapQuest. So long Google Maps.”
MapQuest said in a press statement that its No. 1 navigation app ranking was the highest chart position in the brand’s 30-year history: “Hundreds of thousands of people have downloaded the MapQuest apps since Thursday, and usage is running roughly 50 times its normal rate.”
