Nearly five million Internet users have clicked on to 'Geoportail,' the French answer to Google Earth offering high-resolution aerial imagery of France , in the first day of the site's operation, the portal's developers said, an AFP report said.
The AFP report said Geoportail (http://www.geoportail.fr/) was developed by the state-funded National Geographic Institute (IGN) in a bid to rival the planetary success of the US pioneer in the field, Google Earth.
Analysts say the average traffic to the most popular French Web site is about four million a day, according to the AFP report.
Unlike Google Earth, which offers views of the entire planet but high resolution only for certain areas, the Geoportail covers the whole of France 's territory, on the mainland and overseas, the report further said.
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, it added.
The 6-million-euro ($7.5 million) project aims to reproduce the success of Google Earth which has been downloaded by some 100 million people since its launch a year ago, the report said.