Institut Géographique National

The Institut national de l’information géographique et forestière (National Institute of Geographic and Forestry Information), previously Institut géographique national (National Geographic Institute) or IGN is a French public state administrative establishment founded in 1940 to produce and maintain geographical information for France and its overseas departments and territories.

The IGN depends on the French Ministry of Equipment, Transport, Town and Country Planning, Tourism and Sea. Its missions are fixed by decrees.

State subsidies represent 51% of the budget, and sales 49%.

The IGN runs four laboratories to research geographical information acquisition, production, distribution and applications. It also runs its own school to teach techniques to its staff and other students: École nationale des sciences géographiques (English: National School of Geographical Sciences) or ENSG.

The IGN is responsible for the management and updating of:

It has to lead research, and to take part in the standardization process in the field of geographical information. It has to manage ENSG, and the documentation service about its products, techniques and services.

A group of French public administrations, in partnership with the IGN, establish the Large Scale Reference (Référentiel à grande échelle, RGE): orthophoto, topography, cadastral survey and address databases which can be superimposed on all the French territory, with a 1-meter resolution.

Covering the whole French territory:

The IGN is also in charge of the Géoportail and the shop Le Monde Des Cartes 50 rue de la verrerie 75004.

The IGN is the successor to the Geographical Service of the Army (Service Géographique de L’Armée or SGA), which was founded in 1887 and disbanded in 1940. The old maps produced by the SGA were divided into two batches: one which remained at the Institute and one which joined the military files of Vincennes. The general Louis Hurault, who was at the origin of these modifications, was the first director of the IGN. He tried, in vain, to recover the material shared by the Germans. A law in ten articles is signed the 14 in order to define the functions of the IGN. The statutes had been signed the 8. This established the national School of geographical sciences in order to train Cartographical engineers.

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