France unveiled a Web site http://www.geoportail.fr on Friday that allows people to access detailed satellite images of the country and said it offered more detail of its territory than Google Earth.Unfortunately it only features France and French territories and at the moment it's quite slow too. Probably all the press articles generated too much traffic to their server and they don't seem to handle it well. Not really cutting edge eh, Chirac?
Google Earth, which allows Internet users to zoom in on locations around the world, caused concern when it was launched last year among governments who feared terrorists might use the service to help plot attacks.
But President Jacques Chirac stressed the need for France to have such a site, which will allow Internet users to view aerial photos and maps, saying the state had to be at the cutting edge of modern technology.
France launches Google Maps rival
Posted on Sunday, June 25 2006 @ 1:14 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
CNN writes France has launched a Google Earth rival: