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Geodesy - Metrology - Cartography - Databases - Geographic Information Systems - Thematic portals
THE FRENCH NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE (IGN) BECOMES THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GEOGRAPHIC AND FOREST INFORMATION
Since January 1, 2012 the IGN (the French National Geographic Institute) has become the National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information. This new organisation will be responsible for the implementation of the French national geographic information infrastructure and will also strive to provide information relative to the fields of ecology, energy, forestry, land use planning and climate change.
The aim of the merger between the two establishments is to profit from the concentration of the skills of both the IGN and the IFN (National Forestry Inventory) in order to increase the present capacities in terms of describing the national territory and land use as well as those related to inventories of forestry resources. This will benefit public policies as well as land use planning and sustainable development activities.
The new establishment will retain the various missions of both establishments but will also be explicitly entrusted with the implementation of the national geographic information infrastructure.
The new organisation will be in charge of presenting the forestry map as a digital reference database, implementing programmes for the observation and surveillance of ecosystems, providing information contributing to the definition, implementation and assessment of national policies on ecology, energy, forestry, French land use planning, the prevention of climate change and the adaptation to these changes. It will be responsible for implementing and administering the government’s Inspire portal.
Géoportail is the main portal for the distribution of geographic and forestry data as well as digital map backgrounds.
The combination of IGN skills in terms of acquisition, processing and distribution of geolocalised data and the sector-oriented skills of the IFN corresponds with the common willingness of both the French Ministry of Sustainable Development and the French Ministry of Agriculture to strengthen their coordination to resolve the issue of sustainable and multi-functional management of forests.
