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France Offers Alternative To Google Earth
Paris (AFP) Jun 27, 2006 Millions of internet users have clicked on to "Geoportal", the French answer to Google Earth offering high-resolution aerial imagery of France, in the first days of the site's operation, the portal's developers said. The flood of traffic to the site has meant only about one in five has been able to connect to Geoportal, developed by the state-funded National Geographic Institute (IGN), in a bid to rival the planetary success of the US pioneer in the field, Google Earth. "This fantastic interest encourages the promoters of this innovative project to go even further," the IGN said. "But it has also caused the saturation of the site, beyond anything we may have feared." If the exceptional level of traffic to the website continues, the promoters may need to regulate access to the site, probably on the basis of passwords, the IGN said. Meanwhile, the Geoportal developers urge patience. Analysts say the average traffic to the most popular French websites is about four million a day. What internet users are waiting for is the chance to zoom to within 50cm of the ground, a first in Europe. Unlike Google Earth, which offers views of the entire planet but high resolution only for certain areas, the Geoportal covers the whole of France's territory, on the mainland and overseas. It lets users switch from aerial views of a site, to detailed maps, charts and geological data - with a three-dimensional tool to be added in the autumn. The $US7.5 million project aims to reproduce the success of Google Earth which has been downloaded by some 100 million people since its launch a year ago. The Geoportal was built using 400,000 aerial photographs compiled and updated every five years by the IGN - as well as 3700 maps - with only certain sensitive or military zones left blurred.
Source: Agence France-Presse Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links - Earth Observation News - Suppiliers, Technology and Application
Ball Aerospace To Provide Two Cameras For Glory Mission
Boulder CO (SPX) Jun 27, 2006Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. announced Monday it will design and build two cloud cameras for NASA's Glory mission under contract to Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The Glory mission is part of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program to improve understanding of what forces influence global environmental changes and how to predict those changes. |
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