InsideGoogle

Maxim “Advertises” In Google Earth

Maxim Magazine, in order to celebrate their 100th issue, decided to build a gigantic version of their magazine cover, large enough to be seen by satelites, including those used by Google Earth. Of course, it takes a while for Google Earth to notice anything, and the Las Vegas desert isn’t exactly a high priority location, so Maxim took the photos themselves and released it as a .kml file.

(click to enlarge)

Now, while this is the equivelant of inserting a jpeg into Earth, Maxim actually did do the work. Its a shame they couldn’t have just put the billboard up three months ago and relied on the satelites to do the work for them, but at least they got it done in the end. The actual Earth data below the overlay kinda, well, sucks:

What’s really interesting, though, is that Maxim has introduced some of the highest resolution imagery in all of Google Earth. As you can see in this zoomed out shot, the Maxim overly is several orders of magnitude more detailed than anything in the vicinity, and more up to date (note the buildings in the lower left-hand corner):

(click to enlarge)

To load it, save the file from Maxim’s website to your hard drive, rename it as a .kml file if necessary, and double-click it. That should do it.

From the press release:

MAXIM Magazine, the #1 best-selling men’s lifestyle magazine in the country and the world is celebrating their momentous milestone of reaching 100 issues by constructing a colossal special issue cover in the Las Vegas desert. MAXIM has teamed up with the City of Las Vegas so that everyone can see Eva Longoria’s (last year’s MAXIM Hot 100 winner) sexy new special cover in Google Earth by visiting Maximonline.com (http://www.maximonline.com/maximusa). The structure stretches 75 x 110 feet and is erected on floor of the Las Vegas desert.

“Leave it to MAXIM to do something so creative and so wild to celebrate their 100th issue. I guess space is no longer the final frontier! I am flattered, to say the least, to be TV’s Sexiest Earthling,” Longoria said.

EVA LONGORIA COVER BY THE NUMBERS:
Size: 75’ x 110’
Material: Vinyl Mesh windscreen
# of stakes in the ground to hold it down: 125
Crew to install: 9
# of hours of printing: 25
# of feet of airline cable to hold in place: 2400’
# of hours to install: 15 hours

COORDINATES:
LATITUDE LONGITUDE
35 Degrees 115 Degrees
37’ 12.23” N 22’ 58.77” W

(via Jossip)

April 7th, 2006 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | Google Earth, Products, Humor, General | 5 comments