Google Maps WTF

You may have heard about the KFC Logo set up in the Nevada desert which, according to a press release from KFC, is supposedly the first logo "visible from space". Well, in reality this is a carefully crafted publicity stunt designed to have a viral marketing effect. Which, with my post here, I guess I'm contributing. :-) However, here's an important point: I think KFC really messed up by not making a high resolution aerial photo of the site available in the form of an image overlay and released as a Google Earth file. That's what Maxim did for a giant version of one of their covers with Eva Longoria in a bathing suit. Fortunately, someone from the GEC community called 'mysterytrain' did manage to grab a photo of the aerial shot of the KFC logo and has overlayed it in Google Earth . As you can see, the KFC logo was way too small to be visible from space unless you have a telescope. Looks like the logo is about 325 feet tall. I really hate it when publicity stunts are done like this and the PR people basically lie, or just make something up to get attention. But, I guess that was part of the viral marketing strategy.

I did notice they had the GeoEye satellite company take a picture of the site. From the video (which you can see from the KFC web site) of the making of the KFC logo, it looks like somebody put it into Microsoft's Virtual Earth 3D. Has anyone found this released for VE3D? It's not surprising Microsoft would be invovled since they have a partnership with GeoEye. From a Google Video of the logo it was funny to see that a helicopter taking video accidentally got too close and messed up the logo (see the very end of the video).