So here's the skinny... the site has been developed by the the National Geographic Institute and the Office of Geological and Mineral Research (France) and hosts more than 3,700 maps and 400,000 high-resolution satellite images of France and her territories.

Upon loading the site, visitors are greeted with a map of the Earth with France and all her territories featuring hyperlinked rectangles (click a rectangle and call up higher resolution data).

For a test I load the map and click on Corsica... oops... server not available ... $%#$%##$%# well, I'll keep trying.. sorry for the teaser!

See for yourself at http://www.geoportail.fr/

OOPS... once again attempting to view the high-res imagery proved to be not so simple... maybe next time. Given all the press that the site has received the servers are likely experiencing a bit of system overload. My French is a bit rusty so if you can translate that would be great... I'm guessing that the serevr is experiencing too uch traffic. I have to wonder if anyone writing about how "great" the site is has actually even seen it in detail!

this from the Middle East Times...

What Internet users are waiting for is the chance to zoom to within 50 centimetres (20 inches) 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.