It will be the first and only 3D globe that includes high resolution imagery covering entire France and will include the ability to interactively fly over highly realistic 3D terrain and urban environments.

‘Geoportail’ is an initiative of the French National Geographical Institute (IGN) and is the reference portal for access to all French state and private sector geographical data, intended for the general public as well as professionals. The web site development as well as database management is being handled by I.G.O. a Vinci company using SkylineGlobe as a multiplatform web based application (Windows, Mac and Linux). The entire project including technical implementation and server architecture is managed by ATOS ORIGIN. The new interactive 3D ‘Geoportail’ is designed to utilize multiple servers for redundancy and load management to support many thousands of concurrent users.

‘The SkylineGlobe architecture allows IGN to update parts of the multi-terabyte imagery data immediately as they are received without having to rebuild the entire database – this was critical to them’ said Arik Katz, senior vice president of engineering at Skyline. ‘After a long review process of available 3D solutions, IGN came to a conclusion that SkylineGlobe with its extensive API is the only solution that would let them create the scaleable customized web-based application that they wanted’ he continued.

“France will be the first country to create their own web based public 3D Earth portal” said Mr. Eli Weisbrod, of S.L.I, the local Skyline distributor in France. “This marks an important shift in the web 3D Earth scene as now with SkylineGlobe any commercial or government organization can create a privately labeled web based 3D globe application.” Mr. Weisbrod added.

Skyline Software Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of 3D earth visualization software and services. The company offers a comprehensive platform of applications, tools and services that enable the creation and dissemination of interactive, photo-realistic 3D environments. Skyline technology works on any platform including desktops, wireless handheld devices and in-vehicle systems and over any type of network, including secure intranets, private extranets and the Internet. Skyline is headquartered in Chantilly, VA. For more information, visit http://www.skylinesoft.com and http://www.skylineglobe.com