IGN, the French National Geographic Institute, continues its digital outreach with two key initiatives. The 'Géoportail' platform, a robust online mapping service, showcases SPOT satellite imagery and detailed topographic maps, providing granular data on France's diverse terrain. This platform emphasizes data security and offers a grayscale display to facilitate the integration of other thematic datasets. The 'Cartes IGN' application, available on Google Play, translates these capabilities into a user-friendly mobile experience.
The 'Cartes IGN' app allows users to access the precision of IGN's base maps, including topographic charts and cadastral plans. It layers this with extensive geographic information from IGN and its collaborators. This data covers areas such as land ownership, agriculture, forestry, tourism, protected zones, and transportation infrastructure. A core feature is the ability to compare historical and current aerial photographs and maps, enabling users to visualize landscape changes, particularly in the context of climate change. The application also provides interactive map features to retrieve specific details about French territory, from building attributes to crop types in fields.
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Functionality within the 'Cartes IGN' app extends to practical navigation tools. Users can calculate routes, plot custom paths, save waypoints, and share their current location. The application also aims to provide a degree of user privacy, with tools to "move without being traced." The overall impression conveyed is one of an extensive and detailed exploration of France, from the satellite's vantage point to the ground-level user.
