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France Unveils Google-like Map Service

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

June 23, 2006, 2:45 PM

France unveiled a new service Friday that would allow residents to view ultra-high resolution images of the country as well as its territories.

Called Geoportal, the site offers the ability to zoom in to as close as 20 inches off the ground, the best resolution available in Europe. 400,000 images comprise the tool along with 3,700 maps, which are updated every five years.

In a ceremony unveiling the new technology, President Jacques Chirac called the move significant as it "places France at the forefront of new technologies." Although some may see it as a bid to compete with Google Earth, Geoportal differs in the fact it can only show images of French territories.

The system was developed by the National Geographic, and much like Google Earth it would be switchable from aerial to detailed maps, and soon even 3-D imagery. However, unlike its counterpart geological data would also be added. The entire project cost France six million euros to develop.

But don't expect to be able to access Geoportal for the near future, as the site has been unable to handle the heavy traffic following its debut. BetaNews checks on Friday afternoon indicated that the site was still having problems.

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By gedazx

posted Jun 26, 2006 - 3:54 AM

"Vous êtes incroyablement nombreux à vous connecter au Géoportail, portail des territoires et des citoyens depuis sa mise en ligne. Nous avons enregistré plusieurs millions de connexions en quelques heures. En raison de cette affluence, le site est actuellement saturé. Nos équipes mettent tout en œuvre pour vous permettre d'y accéder à nouveau dans des conditions de navigation satisfaisantes et vous remercient de l'intérêt que vous portez à ce site interministériel novateur."

Shortly - too many connections, we are now closed, guys :D

Score: 0

By PC Rat

posted Jun 24, 2006 - 5:43 PM

...

"France lost more than 1.500.000
soldiers fighting the germans in
the past century"

...

Yeah, but they were ~all~ shot in the back !

...

The Computer Rodent

...

Score: 0

By new_jamie

posted Jun 26, 2006 - 6:22 AM

Keep your ignorant, sarcastic comments to yourself as they are deeply offensive to those of us that lost relatives in the war.

Score: 0

By SirDarius

edited Jun 26, 2006 - 5:25 AM

I lost several family members during WWII, and I know many french people who fought bravely.

I feel offended by your humor (which is so repetitive that it becomes annoying per-se)

Please present your apologies to the people who died to defend Freedom.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jun 26, 2006 - 1:50 PM

Wow.

You guys take things just a tad too seriously.

I mean, he and I disagree on just about everything...and I still thought that was funny.

Of course, I was at the clubs enjoying tasteless jokes about 9/11 around 10/11.

Perspective, people. If we all stopped to mourn every death, *nothing* would *ever* get done. Humor helps make the world go 'round. Even if it may not be up to *your* standards, don't knock it. Makes you sound pretentious and holier-than-thou.

Speaking of WWII, one of my grandfathers was killed, and the other lost half of his left arm. ...and he can joke about it.

Why can't you?

Score: 0

By Xypheri

posted Jun 26, 2006 - 4:14 PM

Good point, but I suppose it would help if anything he said was actually funny. He's probably the worst gimmick poster I've ever seen

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jun 26, 2006 - 4:29 PM

Heh...

Yeah, but I did get a grin out of that one. He can be counted for humor at least once in a while.

I suppose half of the grin was due to the fact that I knew he'd get flamed for it. ;)

Score: 0

By SirDarius

posted Jun 27, 2006 - 7:33 AM

say, i have nothing against humor itself.

but if one person makes the same joke about fifty times and still expects the croud to make a standing ovation... well... i guess some people will certainly want to b****-slap him at some point.

now, you just didn't understand that my own reply was deliberately exagerated, just to create more interesting reactions ;)

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jun 27, 2006 - 8:36 AM

lmao...

Watch out, you're starting to sound like rijp...

Score: 0

By mayakovski

posted Jun 24, 2006 - 3:08 PM

It doesn't work, but then neither do the french.

Score: 0

By computershack

posted Jun 24, 2006 - 2:03 PM

I've been trying http://local.live.com from Microsoft and the images are far superior to anything Google Earth or Nasa World Wind offers. For example, in the UK Google and NASA only offer hi-res for the odd location outside of major cities whereas Microsofts offering appears to have hi-res for pretty much the entire country. CErtinaly they're hi-res for the small 11,000 population town I live in which is in a very rural area in the North East of Enlgand.

Score: 0

By Sensi

edited Jun 24, 2006 - 2:39 PM

Yep, they have some nice hi-res aerial views for england, but just try out elsewhere, e.g. Paris, France.

Let's hope that the best pictures will be made available by all these services, that will start to be annoying to be forced to switch between them to get the best resolution for every country.

Score: 0

By Sensi

edited Jun 24, 2006 - 2:04 PM

«And within 10 minutes of being posted on BetaNews, their servers surrendered to the onslaught of traffic.»
«Geoportal: Succumbs to BetaNews onslaught!»

If you think that betanews is the center of the world, you have a serious problem. Geoportail servers have been flooded by enthusiastic users since 6:30 am @ GMT+1 of its day start, with several millions connections in few hours.

«why is France in it larger than the rest of the countries combined ?»

What do you mean by "others countries"?
There is only France and french territories overseas.

«the site is called GeoporTAL, but the link seems to point to GeoporTAIL!»

It is Géoportail at http://www.geoportail.fr
The typo in the article is in the name given for the link.

«white flags»

The areas left blank are for security reasons, while Google Earth prefer to hide Cheney's house, Geoportail hide areas that are a bit more strategic.

«It must be their hourly surrender.»

You mean like the english in Yorktown or like the USA in Vietnam?
You are just one ign0rant added to the xenophobic french-hating propaganda, learn a few history facts and get a life, France lost more than 1.500.000 soldiers fighting the germans in the past century, pitiful mor0n. Adding a smiley to your statement won't make you less ridiculous or offending.

Score: 0

By pjosephson

posted Jun 26, 2006 - 3:47 PM

You mean like the english in Yorktown or like the USA in Vietnam?

Maybe you need to learn your history. It was the French who originally surrendered Viet Nam. It was the French, who had supressed the country as they had done countless other places overruning the poulace with large factories (mainly rubber and grain I believe)and caused the rise of desent and a greater influence of communism that led to the U.S. entering after you failed (the French) to contain the situation.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

edited Jun 24, 2006 - 11:30 PM

LMAO

Thanks. That was funny.

Hey, we love the french. They provide the fodder for so many amusing jokes.

Score: 0

By lfjp

edited Jun 24, 2006 - 3:03 PM

portail is the French for portal.

Score: 0

By PC Rat

posted Jun 23, 2006 - 8:33 PM

...

Good map ...except why is France in it
larger than the rest of the countries combined ?

...

The Computer Rodent

...

Score: 0

By GS5

posted Jun 23, 2006 - 8:22 PM

Wow, great photo resolution, I’ve never seen so many white flags before. It must be their hourly surrender. heheh ;-)

Score: 0

By R J

posted Jun 23, 2006 - 7:09 PM

Geoportal: Succumbs to BetaNews onslaught!

This could be the headlines tomorrow!! I just tried and tried and tried and keep getting timed out.

Having said that the site is called GeoporTAL, but the link seems to point to GeoporTAIL! Typo somewhere??

Can't wait to try it. Even though it is only France that can be seen.

Score: 0

By yokozuna

posted Jun 23, 2006 - 5:27 PM

Wow, I am really impressed! It is hard to use the service, what was already mentioned, but the service is must more accurate than these that come from Google or Microsoft. I tested Cannes, Citroen plant in Aulnay, Saint Tropez, Bayonne, and Cahors where my favourite wine is made :-) Pity that the service covers France only (I do not count Monaco and Andorra) :-( Maybe in the future ?

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jun 24, 2006 - 11:31 PM

Witht he kind of quality we're seeing there, I would hope so.

At least I'd like for it to give the competition the nads to improve quality and accuracy. Especially outside the US.

Score: 0

By Joe Dirt

edited Jun 23, 2006 - 3:29 PM

LiLWiP,

No kidding. I just get a timed out message after waiting over a minute to get to the site.

:D

Nice going France.

Score: 0

By Kramy

posted Jun 23, 2006 - 4:11 PM

My timeout time is set to 20 seconds, so I wasted less time than you did. :P

Curses...why did I have to spend a minute writing this post?

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jun 23, 2006 - 5:01 PM

...

...

That took you an entire minute? What, are you typing with your toes or something?

(I apologize if you are a quadraplegic typing with a straw in your mouth. No offense intended)

Score: 0

By Silentmaster101

posted Jun 26, 2006 - 10:17 AM

a real quadrapalegic would use chopsticks in thier mouth, that takes more skill running the two at once.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jun 26, 2006 - 1:45 PM

Takes mad skillz, man...

Score: 0

By Kramy

posted Jun 23, 2006 - 10:28 PM

It took a minute because I thought about it before I posted, and then wrote an extra line.

You'll be happy to know that this post only took about 20 seconds. :)

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jun 24, 2006 - 12:35 PM

Whew.

I was getting worried about ya there. ;)

Score: 0

By LiLWiP

posted Jun 23, 2006 - 3:00 PM

"France unveiled a new service Friday that would allow residents to view ultra-high resolution images of the country as well as its territories."

And within 10 minutes of being posted on BetaNews, their servers surrendered to the onslaught of traffic.

First Post

Score: 0

By Frostek

posted Jun 23, 2006 - 4:07 PM

If this ends up working as well as they say I'll be very impressed. It's always good to have choices in technology. Google Earth is nice, but obviously with the whole planet to consider ultra-high resolutions would be (currently) untenable.

It's still early days yet - who can say for certain how much this could take off? Having coverage of the whole of Europe like this would be very handy indeed.

Score: 0

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