Yes, I agree that the Executive Order does specify the “seaward” boundary, so in theory the map you show is correct. But, the GNIS definition very specifically states:
“The Gulf of America, formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico, with an average depth 5300 ft is a major body of water bordered and nearly landlocked by North America with the Gulf’s eastern, northern, and northwestern shores in the U.S. and its southwestern and southern shores in Mexico. Bordered by Cuba on the SE, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean via the Florida Straits between the U.S. and Cuba, and the Caribbean Sea via the Yucatan Channel between Mexico and Cuba.”
As I read it, they are defining it as the full extent of the gulf, not just the OCS. This is how Google and Apple have presented it.
I think it is worth noting that the executive order is more of a “secretary, go do this in spirit, hammer out the details.” What the GNIS puts out is actually the result of hammering out the technical meaning of the spirit of the executive order. The GNIS acts after the Secretary of the Interior asks them to on behalf of the President. Direction and guidance are 2 different things even if they are close.
I will add that we should probably not expect any kind of internal consistency from the US government for the next 1046 days, 16 hours, and 11 minutes.
Since most of the chaos seems to (hopefully) be behind us, I thought it would be fun to look at some of the data.
The Gulf of Mexico node was at version 19 at the start of this year; it is currently at version 114. That means it has been edited 95 times since the executive order was announced.
Here is a graph showing the version number of the Gulf over time:
There were many additions to the Gulf of Mexico in the respective national languages.
Oh yeah, you’re absolutely right.
About half of all recent edits have just been people adding the Gulf’s name in their respective languages, which has been pretty cool to see. There have also been a number of edits adding useful information to the node.
Most of the remaining edits have been undiscussed name changes, followed by reversions of those changes.
