Cartography of France

This period was marked by improvements in measuring instruments and also by an upgrade of work in registers of all types.

What is thought to be the oldest land map in Europe, the Saint-Bélec slab, representing an area of the Odet valley, was found in 1900, and rediscovered in a castle cellar in France in 2014.

Developments in cartography continually progressed, through new techniques and by the expanding will of political powers to amass and control territories.

In France, the first general maps of the territory using a measuring apparatus were made by the Cassini family during the 18th century on a scale of 1:86,400 (one centimeter on the chart corresponds to approximately 864 meters on the ground).

They were the first maps based on geodetic triangulation, and took more than fifty years to complete; four generations of the Cassini family were involved in their production.

[3] It was originally produced as a mosaic of maps, pasted to fabric, folded and protected by a hard case.

The Institut Géographique National (English: National Geographic Institute) or IGN is a French public state administrative establishment founded in 1940[1] to produce and maintain geographical information for France and its overseas departments and territories.

“Intense cartographic work planned for the beginning of the war was stopped by the defeat of France in June 1940.

Under this label, which it still bears, it continued to function, its activities including the opening of a new school for cartographers in the famous building of the Hôtel de Rohan in Paris.

The main progress was achieved by the African Army Map Service, which was able to pursue field work, particularly in the Sahara.