PalQ

The French Embassy newsletter News from France reports:
"Detailed satellite images of France and French territories are now available online at a French government Web site: www.Geoportail.fr, a joint project of the National Geographic Institute (which also makes in my opinion the best maps on France) and Mineral Research. Unveiled june 24, 2006 French officials say the portal offers more detailed images of its territory than Google Earth's similar program.

AnthonyGA

The images I saw were abysmal compared to Google Maps. They look like they were photographed in 1950 through frosted glass.

PalQ

Could this be another Minitel debacle?

Michael

On the other hand, my house is shown while Google doesn't even offer a close-up of the village.

This software cannot be accessed with Safari, but it works with Firefox.

cocofromdijon

Pal I still use my old minitel when the computer is off and find it very useful.
The images from géoportail are actually used in the yellow pages. When you find the name and the city you're looking for, click on "vue aérienne". This is what I did to locate my vacation rental in Bandol next week. I also like to see how close my apartment is close to the ducal palace...
I can't do that with google earth as all the French zones are not shown yet.

mpprh

Hi

This has been available for quite some time. It crashed for the first week due to demand.

At the time of launch Google Earth increased the resolution of some parts of France.

The main problem is that although it appears to be higher definition (aerial v satellite ?) many areas have views that are 4 years old. You will notice that on the higher magnifications, there are many white boxed representing government censorship.

And it only shows French speaking areas !

Peter