In an unrelated story, Walmart has recently purchased several surplus bombers.

"Stay on target!"

Another one:

[maps.google.com]

Rosemont, IL

"Stay on the bomb run, boys! I'm gonna get them doors open if it harelips ever'body on Bear Creek!"

--Major T. J. "King" Kong
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

The Wachovia Center in Philly has their logo on the roof of the building.

CVS does this too sometimes

Wow, it's almost like they somehow knew there is a popular internet service that shows satellite photos of any place you can search for.

Well.... it IS in Alexandria VA, perhaps Air Force Two can finally find a place to shop.

This target is right across the street from my house and I must have looked at this on Google maps at least 20 times and never noticed it.

I fly into Atlanta and Cincinatti alot, and due to their status as airline hubs I see ads on rooftops like this a fair amount on the approach. The only one that sticks out in my memory is the Target one though, maybe it's a chain thing?

Don't all Targets do this? I crisscrossed the country about 24 last year, and noticed several Targets have this.

I guess I'm the only one that doesn't really understand GoogleEarth. What good is it to see only the top view of everything? Only good I can think of is for surveyors, but them again, most street addresses are way off when searching (from my use).

@sven.kirk: Maybe you can use it to keep those young, good-for-nothing hooligans off your lawn!!

@SteveBMD: As someone who has moved far away from where I used to live, I like being able to use Google earth to view the places I used to frequent.

@sven.kirk: It's fun to mess around with to try and view all of the areas that the government has censored out (for good reason, I suppose).

@SuperiorInky:
Almost there

@MyPetFly: Haha "What did I tell you about horsin' around on the airplane?!"

@CharityCaecus: FLY DELTA JETS enough said!

@superj711: Well, now we know.

Here's what one couple put on their rooftop, which is right by an airport, to protest the noise (keep in mind that they built the house well after the airport was there...)

And here's a Navy building built in a pre-Google earch era.

This particular Target is seen by almost every plane heading north from, or south to Reagan National Airport.

In fact you can see the runway from the parking lot, so the planes are pretty close to the ground as well.

With the popularity of satellite photography, not a bad idea.

So people don't have to guess which building is the target, with a quick glance. I normally look for landmarks on highways in Google guessing by shape and parking lot size, so that makes it easier.

The Target in Everett, MA does this too.

[maps.google.com]

Same with the target by O'Hare. [maps.google.com] Not really sure why this is news.

Before Google Sat images, the Target Logo was painted on the roof of store by the Chicago airport. This was because some team members (exec's) noticed that the roof was clearly visible during most takeoff's and landings, and this was thought to be a fun and 'free' advertising .. It got quite a bit of buzz when Google made satellite images easily visible.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&t=k&ll=42.00557119122396,-87.88727760314941&z=16

This wasn't the result of brilliant marketing strategy, it was the result of a culture that allowed risk taking and creativity. Come up with something cool and you could try it. I don't know if the company still has this level of risk taking anymore. But in the mid/late 90's to mid 2004 it was amazing.

@scoobydoo: Interesting that the Target is bigger than the Allstate Arena.

@sven.kirk: At one time you would of kind of had a point.

Even in the past I'd say that its more helpful in an unfamiliar place to have some kind of landmark. Even if I'm looking down on a building or area I can say "Ok if I hit this ______ I've gone to far" which I wouldn't get on a normal map.

Now that its got street view and many major metro areas have 3-D renderings you can know exactly what the street you're looking for looks like before you get there. Very useful.

The Bass Pro Shop north of DFW airport has the logo on the roof, but the other one in Dallas (not near an airport) does not.

@Canino: Grapevine Mills nearby has the name advertised on their roof as well.

hey guys, I've actually seen this on every Target Ive ever been too. It's their signature - they put it on all their stores that are in dense urban areas. Its cheap advertising in a googlemaps-driven world.

Target Acquired: [i10.photobucket.com]

Well the birds have a nice aiming point for their bathroom breaks.

[targetfiling.blogspot.com]

@RedwoodFlyer: I was reminded of this as well:

[www.britishblogs.co.uk]

Amusing story here:

[thehighdefinite.com]

@Canino: I believe the Grapevine Mills mall has its name painted on the roof as well..

@scootinger: Oops, didn't notice you'd already pointed it out. :(

Oh I wish a lot of stores did this, it'd make it a lot easier to find the Superstore that's somewhere around N street and X avenue, etc.

@icantreplyright: I'm glad I saw this, I was going to link to the same Target. I'm pretty sure they do this on all of the targets that are near airports.

[maps.google.com]

Humans were making images that were visible from the sky long before they could actually fly. The Nazca lines in Peru are the best-known example.

Given that everyone seems to think Google Earth is only going to become a bigger part of everyone's life, I don't see this as being particularly newsworthy or noteworthy.

@sven.kirk: I use it to find hotels and get a feel for places I am going to visit.

When I first glanced at the picture and read the headline, I thought the picture was of a microchip (in a motherboard attached to a satellite).

Probably just me.

I just thought it was a way for the ICBM's to find their target?

@sven.kirk: It's nice if you're buying a house. We pop all of our prospective properties into Google Earth to make sure the areas look decent - e.g. we ixnayed the house with the train tracks in the backyard, and bumped up the one that was within walking distance of a park.

Some of this stuff appears on a regular ole map, but it can be difficult to judge the amount of "green space" without a satellite image. Any extra bit of info can be helpful.

Every single Target has this. It's not a big secret and been there forever. Just fly over one in an airplane.

@parkavery: I totally agree that looking at Earth is good for looking at neighborhoods, but as for getting detail, it is (was) lacking. StreetView totally makes up for this though.

@David Garvin: So does HSBC Arena in Buffalo.

@RedwoodFlyer: Did you ever see the Nazi trees?
[en.wikipedia.org]

@icantreplyright: Because a reader sent it in, and it has to do with a store and advertising.

I was just talking about this a few days ago. Why aren't more stores doing this? I want to see logos like that all over Google maps. Clubs, butchers, drug stores, bakeries, fast food: your roof should be your icon!