It probably had names before but what did the Mayans call it?

What's wrong with proton? It works pretty well for me.

"Except traffic" is not a little thing. It's like putting up an ad for a house with all the features you'd expect, except a roof.

With my daily commute, there are a dozen routes I can take and traffic conditions make it so that from day to day, there can be an hour difference between different routes. It's literally the only reason I use navigation apps over a cheap GPS unit with no live online connection requirement to navigate.

I think this is important. That said, traffic info is the whole ballgame for many people. People who live, work, and drive in metro areas frequently use map applications even when driving everyday routes to avoid traffic.

I don’t see Google/Waze/Apple maps getting any less popular unless there is a FOSS alternative that includes live traffic, which does not seem possible while remaining free. People will choose free every time, especially since Google maps works so well.

Personally, I would pay some amount for a privacy-minded alternative, something like OrganicMaps with live traffic. But I doubt it could ever attain the user base it would need to provide accurate traffic info.

I think something official was actually signed in the last few days. Dumbest timeline.

So why would google want to handle all the complaints and backlash they’ll take for this?

Because it's worth getting on trump's "good side", per Ajit Pai's reasoning

For me it's extra strange. If I zoom out, I see "Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)". However when I zoom in it changes to just "Guild of America".

I'm American also in the US.

I live in the US and I won't recognize the name either.