topic Gulf of America and Mount McKinley in ArcGIS Online Questions

Gulf of America and Mount McKinley

J_R_Matchett — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 04:47:01 GMT

Does anyone know if and when Esri plans to update its ArcGIS Online basemaps to be in compliance with Donald Trump's Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness executive order?

Re: Gulf of America and Mount McKinley

BernSzukalski — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 14:47:11 GMT

I'm expecting that the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) will, as a result of executive order, make changes to the official U.S. naming conventions. Google has already announced that they will make changes when those GNIS changes officially occur.

Living Atlas basemaps and place name locators have always been based upon and have followed the official U.S. government conventions. Expect any changes to happen after the official government changes happen. Note that localized name changes depending on your country of origin may apply.

Re: Gulf of America and Mount McKinley

DavidJohnson10 — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 20:22:29 GMT

Never, I hope. And if it does, I hope we can edit it out on our personal maps.

Re: Gulf of America and Mount McKinley

BernSzukalski — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 02:25:29 GMT

Changing Labels in Esri Vector Basemaps

Re: Gulf of America and Mount McKinley

DavidJohnson10 — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 02:38:21 GMT

Thanks! Just because we produce a map here in the US doesn’t mean.its for a US audience!
the “Arabian” or “Persian” gulf pose the same issue. We need to be able to aim for our audiences

Re: Gulf of America and Mount McKinley

gyetman — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 14:54:04 GMT

Hi,

Is there an ETA for the basemap updates now that the GNIS has been updated (as of Feb. 11 from what I've read)? We don't want to make changes as you described for vector maps as you describe below in all of our viewers if the basemaps are about to be updated. Thanks for the info on the vector map workaround though, very useful.

Greg

Re: Gulf of America and Mount McKinley

BernSzukalski — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 18:50:00 GMT

I would expect updates to basemaps to reflect new official naming conventions in vector tile basemaps to happen within the next couple of weeks.

For Mount McKinley, the updated name will be across all vector basemaps since it is entirely within the U.S. boundary.

For "Gulf of America," Gulf of Mexico will continue to be seen in global and regional vector basemap styles, a new US vector basemap style will be added and adopt the new name.

Legacy raster tile basemaps will not be updated.

Users can also use the Vector Tile Style Editor to make custom basemaps for use within their organization.

Re: Gulf of America and Mount McKinley

AmandaDeMedeiros — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:43 GMT

Ensure to set your regional settings to display the boundaries and place names that are specific to your region.

For Example:

Log in as an administrator for your organization in ArcGIS Online.
At the top of the site, click Organization and then click the Settings tab.
In the General Settings, scroll down to “Organizational defaults” and ensure that “Your Region” is selected as the Region.

Re: Gulf of America and Mount McKinley

DavidJohnson10 — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 00:55:15 GMT

Very helpful, though I may have to switch this up depending on the audience.

Thank you!

Re: Gulf of America and Mount McKinley

BernSzukalski — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 04:19:03 GMT

This blog article covers the details of the implementation, and how users will see it (or not).

https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-living-atlas/announcements/upcoming-feb-20th-release-of-esri-vector-basemaps/

Here's a follow-up blog with additional information that may be useful.

https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-online/announcements/esri-vector-basemaps-for-united-states/

Any organization can create and use a custom basemap gallery. And you can edit any basemap using the Vector Tile Style Editor to reflect your own cartographic preferences, including changing labels for the Gulf and the highest mountain in the U.S. (I might suggest "Gulf of Bern" and "Mount Bern" if you are going to do that).

An easier way if you don't want to see "Gulf of America" in your organization default basemaps is to simply set your organization region setting to World rather than United States. Same basemaps, different labels. Personally speaking, that is what I do.

Bern

Re: Gulf of America and Mount McKinley

DavidJohnson10 — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 15:16:15 GMT

Thanks! does that carry over to ArcGIS Pro?

Re: Gulf of America and Mount McKinley

BernSzukalski — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 17:31:08 GMT

The basemap you use in a web map will be referenced in the map. So if you had your organization settings set to "United States" you would see G of A. If you then switch your organization settings to "World" then the web map, and any apps it is used it, would still show G of A. Though new maps you author would show G of M.

Same is true for ArcGIS Pro projects.

If dual labeling is the goal, then personally I would create a custom basemap gallery for my organization and include both the United States and World (or other) versions of the basemap in that gallery, clearly name them as such, and then you can choose which you want when you author maps.