- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
A video has been going around on TikTok reporting on the church changing their icon on Google Maps from the angel Moroni to a cross. I looked on Google Maps at my own ward building and, sure enough, it is now a cross. My local temple, however, still has the angel Moroni. In a post on the r/lds subreddit, one of the mods posted a statement that was supposedly put out by the church incase anyone noticed the change.
Quote:The Church has been working for some time to improve our presence on Google Maps. One of the items that was chosen to improve the findability of our Church buildings was to join the broader category of ‘Christian Churches’ instead of being in a category all by ourselves.
Why did the Church make this Google Map pin move?
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is interested in findability and always has been. We want people to find us (whether online or in-person, and worship and serve with us). We discovered that Google had assigned Latter-day Saint chapels with a custom Google maps pin that featured Moroni as the icon, while all other Christian denominations are visually identified by a cross. This visual and categorical distinction was limiting our findability for those looking for a Christian church. We are a Christian Church. By making this distinction in Google maps, all meetinghouse map pins were changed or will be changed to a cross.
Our hope is that those searching for Christian churches will have the opportunity to find the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Additional (More Technical) Context:
All Google Map locations are assigned a “primary category”. This category determines which icon is used on the marker that appears on the map. Google creates these icons and there is no process by which a request can be made to change it.
Many years ago, Google assigned a Moroni-themed marker to the category “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” This icon was not requested or approved by the Church. Of the 50+ Christian denomination categories, ours was the only one not assigned a cross-themed marker. After a thorough analysis of search data, it was determined that this visual and categorical separation was limiting the visibility of Church meetinghouses in search results for terms like “churches near me” and “Christian churches near me.”
With the approval of the Church Communication Executive Committee, meetinghouses are now assigned the primary category “Christian church” to increase their findability, with “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” and “Religious organization” as additional categories. As a result, the Google-assigned icon changed from Moroni to the cross.
This change is specific to meetinghouses only. Other Church-owned properties may continue to display the Moroni marker, including temples or administrative offices.
I haven’t been able to find the statement anywhere outside of Reddit. I will post the link if I do find it. Below are the links to the TikTok video and the post on Reddit.
https://www.tiktok.com/@scriptureplus/video/7273163096087121198 ” class=”bbcode_url”> https://www.tiktok.com/@scriptureplus/video/7273163096087121198 https://www.reddit.com/r/lds/comments/165qjkd/the_church_updates_its_icon_on_google_maps_to_a/ ” class=”bbcode_url”> https://www.reddit.com/r/lds/comments/165qjkd/the_church_updates_its_icon_on_google_maps_to_a/ I would like for the church aversion to the cross to go away and I would hope that this is a step in that direction (even though it just appears to be about expediency). There is no doctrinal reason to shy away from crosses.
P.S. My very Mormon MIL once sent us Christmas ornaments consisting of little nails hung by a red ribbon to help us remember the “true meaning” of Christmas. I found it very ironic given our aversion to the cross. “You don’t like the symbolism of the cross? I present to you, the symbolism of the nail!”
I usually think of myself as fairly observant and aware of my surroundings. In my recent travels I had used Google maps rather extensively and I had noticed that LDS church buildings show up even when I wasn’t really looking for them or expecting to see them. What I missed until this post was that they were crosses. I did notice they were crosses, I just didn’t make the connection with crosses and the church. I really just assumed that Google put a cross on all church icons, so I learned something today. Someone should hook a generator up to Bruce R. McConkie spinning in his grave. They could power up the entire Wasatch Front.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.