Discover France Travel across France and its 36,557 municipalities Smooth navigation from small to large scale A wide range of readily accessible public data Click on the image to access a

Nothing new in the past 6 months? Of course, we just haven't taken the time to talk much about it... New projects are in development all the time! The latest and most visible additions concern the comparison tools. Firstly, the display of the whole France value below the key. In the table of information on the selection, there is also a button that gives access to the summary values for the selected zone and for the whole of France for a selection of indicators. Just beside it, there is another button that provides a series of theme pages, comprising tables and graphs, forming a detailed report on the selection.

And finally, for fun, a tick box above the browser environment to controldisplay of a raster WMS layer.

When you request a printout, you will first be transferred to a “layout” mode. You will then be able to modify the title, add a personal comment (1), use annotation tools (2) in order to add details to the map and then print or launch the PDF generator (3). This final function will automatically create a PDF document, even if there is no PDF creation program installed, in which case conversion will take place via the server. The program will faithfully reconstruct all elements of the map. It will transform transparent polygons of the zones into hatched objects to make the final printing stage easier. It will also hide all buttons and other interaction elements. Example of a PDF document: map of the south of the Indre department (France)

A new button in the toolbar opens the frame shown opposite, which enables you to import data simply by using the copy and paste function. This feature is available at the county level and above. The imported data can be mapped like any other data (according to type, brackets, proportional symbols or individual values) and will remain accessible throughout the entire session.

see a democlip

The button in the bottom left-hand corner of the reference map, below the navigation window, is a two-way switch that enables you to change from an overview (the whole of France) to a close-up view centred on the viewfinder frame. The viewfinder frame (blue rectangle) corresponds to the view that is loaded into the main map. If this frame is moved, either in the overview or in the close-up view, the basemap will need to be reloaded. The zoom frame (red rectangle) will only appear when the zoom level exceeds 100%. The close-up view offers a better view of the zoom frame and allows it to be moved more easily and accurately.

Representation of typologies (December 2005) Simple location based on point symbols is available; this enables you to distinguish several categories of points by varying the shape and/or colour. In our demo, to illustrate this new option, we have chosen to locate restaurants which have been awarded stars by a famous gastronomic guide (2003 edition). To ensure that everything is perfectly readable we have chosen to restrict the selection to simple shapes (diamonds, square, circles and stars, etc.). We recommend that you do not display too many categories.

You can also map a typology with a choropleth analysis, by allocating each municipality (or, more generally, each geographical object) a colour that corresponds to the category that it belongs to. Farm maps are an example of very clear and self-explanatory map types. They show the main techno-economical direction for each municipality (or county) proposed in the “Agriculture” theme. In this type of map, you can click on each coloured block in the key to temporarily hide all municipalities on the map which belong to all the other categories. Another new feature is that when a button appears next to the key it gives access to information about the mapped indicator.

Effect of gradual zoom (November 2005)
The most perceptive Géoclip users will doubtless have realised that, for some time, there has been a subtle difference in terms of navigation. When you zoom in or move, something happens in the time between “before” and “after” the movement. A transition effect allows you to move from one position to another smoothly, like a tracking shot at the cinema!

Optimised interface (January 2005)
The interface was redesigned to improve the look and feel of the application, leaving as much room to the map as ever. Thanks to improved performance, users benefit from smoother and faster navigation.

New display modes are available, such as proportional two-coloured symbols, in order to represent net migration (both positive and negative). Data can now also be figured using point-shaped or linear symbols analysis.
The border of the selection is highlighted using a thicker red line. The selection is still dynamically linked to a table listing all the geographic units that it includes. Exports of the data listed in the table can also be created in Excel format.
In addition to the search tool for locating any geographic unit, an advanced search feature enables users to run queries by filtering the represented variables. For example, which municipalities with over 1,000 inhabitants are located above 1,000 meters in altitude?
The location frame still allows users to navigate in all directions easily thanks to the "viewfinder." A new tab allows users to select a preset view directly, such as zooming automatically on a department.

Enhanced display performances (July 2004)
Thanks to Flash 7 and newly optimised programmes, the display time for maps has been reduced by several seconds. As a result, the maps can include many more geographic objects. The maximum number of objects has increased from 2,000/3,000 to 7,000/8,000, with display speeds remaining acceptable, even without a broadband connection. In the "Discover France" demo, you can display an entire region with its municipalities or the whole of France with its counties.

Zooming and moving (April 04)
Moving in all directions is easier and smoother. Map sections automatically adapt to the zoom level. Data is extracted at the geographic level that is adapted to the size of the map frame.
But you can also choose the basic geographic unit ("mesh") at any scale between employment area, county or city, if it is compatible with the zoom level.
Hotkeys make moving easier: the four arrow keys are used to move laterally, the spacebar is used to zoom in. When you reach the maximum zooming capacities of the active view, pressing it again automatically launches a new database query in order to create a new view.

Thematic displays
Making values discrete for a choropleth map is adjustable "manually" and using the histogram of the statistical distribution. A tool allows you to automatically set thresholds for quantiles.

Information on the selection
Clicking on a group of selected geographic units gives access to a table of indicators, which are automatically recalculated for the selected group. A detailed table is available, which lists the geographic units that make up the selection.
There is a dynamic link between the table and the map: pointing at a table line with the mouse highlights the corresponding geographic unit on the map, and vice versa.
Each column can be used as an ascending/descending sorting criterion, simply by clicking on the column header.

Municipal data for the whole of France
 Insee: population census 1999, study zones (urban areas, employment areas, etc.),
available for free at www.insee.fr
 Ministry of the Interior: detailed base on inter-city relations in France as of 1/1/2002
(text format, downloadable for free on the DGCL site, www.dgcl.interieur.gouv.fr),
municipal data on presidential elections 2002 compiled by Philippe Chataîgnon,
(www.chataignon.com) based on data released at www.interieur.gouv.fr
 Ministry of Environmental Issues and Sustainable Development: Corinte database on natural and technological hazards, promoted and downloadable for free at www.prim.net

Data organisation on the server: Opengis standard format
The server in this example is Linux/mySQL, the geographic backgrounds are stored in a geodatabase using the Opengis WKB format (this format is also used in the internal Esri database), and organised in a mySQL database: the native GIS format is read directly via PHP, without any paying software on the server.
As a result, the application is totally interactive. The interface immediately displays the geographic and/or statistical changes made to the geodatabase. The geodatabase can be created in ArcGis or independantly from any GIs software, based on Mapinfo or Esri-Shape layers and a free and independant conversion utility program.

Main interface features
For the interface to be user-friendly, fast, flexible and accessible to all, it can be only designed using Flash. This allows for smooth, full-screen maps in any configuration (PC, Mac, Linux, etc.) and any browser (IE, Netscape, Opera, etc.). Features:
 search for any municipality in France using part of its name ("Selection and search" bar);
  view the entire metropolitan French territory by moving a display cursor;
  use the mouse to select groups of cities, manually, using a selection circle or rectangle, by clicking on an upper layer (e.g.: arrondissement);
  display aggregate indicators calculated for the selection;
  view upper level zones: administrative (arrondissements, counties, nature parks, inter-city structures), study (employment areas, urban areas);
  display qualitative (natural and technological hazards, city types, etc.) as well as quantitative themes (population, election results, ratios, etc.);
  print high-resolution copies or convert to pdf format using Acrobat Distiller.