Background In February 2025, Google Maps began displaying different labels for the Gulf of Mexico depending on user location. U.S. users see "Gulf of America," Mexican users see "Gulf of Mexico," and other users see "Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)." This change followed updates to the U.S. Geographic Names Information System. Mexico has expressed opposition to the name change and threatened legal action against Google.
Resolution Criteria This market will resolve YES if any of the following occur by December 31, 2025:
Google Maps changes how the Gulf is labeled for any user group compared to February 2025 labels
The position of the label(s) changes significantly on Google Maps, for instance to confine the Gulf of America label to US territorial waters
The U.S. government makes additional official changes to the name that affect mapping services
Google reverts the February 2025 changes
The market will resolve NO if the February 2025 labeling system remains unchanged through December 31, 2025.
Considerations
International pressure, particularly from Mexico, could influence future changes
The U.S. government could issue new directives affecting geographic naming conventions
Google may need to balance competing interests from different countries
This represents the first major change to this body of water's name in modern mapping history