It might sound like a joke… but go ahead and check for yourself, Lake Geneva
has indeed replaced Lake Léman
on Apple Maps in recent days:
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Residents of the Canton of Vaud and Valais reading this might just have a heart attack tonight, since their Geneva neighbors often tease them by referring to the lake by their city’s name—a practice also adopted by a few foreign countries. However, the official name is indeed Léman, which interestingly translates to… Lake
. It’s a widely accepted literary redundancy.
A Glitch in Apple Maps
The name change is indeed real, but it turns out to be a glitch in Apple’s system. (Sorry, Genevans!)
But how could this happen? The method isn’t exactly new, Paris’s Boulevard Haussmann was recently renamed Boulevard Ouseman (Dembélé) after PSG’s victory. Fans simply had to group together (like on a Facebook group) and report an error
to Apple, who would then change the name based on the volume of similar feedback.
While the joke is all in good fun, it can linger for weeks before Apple catches on. More fundamentally, it’s somewhat alarming to see that Apple does not manually validate such changes, especially for such iconic names. Maps is also used in GPS systems, potentially confusing many drivers and tourists.