science

Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière

Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière rather than just read about it. In short: The Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (French pronunciation: [ɛ̃stity nɑsjɔnal də lɛ̃fɔʁmasjɔ̃ ʒeɔɡʁafik e fɔʁɛstjɛʁ]; "National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information"), previously Institut géographique national (French pronunciation: [ɛ̃stity ʒeɔɡʁafik nɑsjɔnal]; "National Geographic Institute") and still abbreviated as IGN, is a French public state administrative establishment…

Key takeaways

Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (French pronunciation: [ɛ̃stity nɑsjɔnal də lɛ̃fɔʁmasjɔ̃ ʒeɔɡʁafik e fɔʁɛstjɛʁ]; "National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information"), previously Institut géographique national (French pronunciation: [ɛ̃stity ʒeɔɡʁafik nɑsjɔnal]; "National Geographic Institute") and still abbreviated as 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.

Administrative organisation 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.

Missions

The IGN is responsible for the management and updating of:

geodetic and levelling networks, aerial photographs, geographical databases and maps. 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.

Products Covering the whole French territory:

topographic maps on the 1:25,000, 1:50,000 and 1:100,000 scales road maps on the 1:250,000 and 1:1,000,000 scales (this last one covers metropolitan France on one sheet). maps of foreign countries ICAO aeronautical maps on the 1:500,000 scale for visual flying (VFR). The IGN is also in charge of the Géoportail. The associated shop Le Monde des Cartes at 50 Rue de la Verrerie in Paris closed in 2017.

History 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, itself a successor to the Dépôt de la Guerre. 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. During the Second World War, the IGN became famous for its counterfeiters. The cartographers are indeed experts in penmanship and the material necessary to the production of fake identity papers was available to the institute. Certain engineers of the IGN were in contact with the services of allied information based in London. In secret, they brought a complete set of maps to London covering France and North Africa in order to replace maps destroyed in a bombardment. The agents of the IGN took an active part in armed resistance in 1943. Several agents were shot by the Germans or died in action. Between September 1944 and on 8 May 1945, the IGN was under the control of the "provisional government" and most of its personnel and of his services are transformed into "military geographical Service". At the end of the war, the IGN received the thanks of Generals Bradley and Eisenhower. Between 1945 and 1946, the debate is intense concerning the future of the IGN, last creation of the Third Republic. A law is finally signed the 8. It confirms the membership of the IGN to the Ministry of works and create the "geographical Section of staff of the Army", new section in charge of the military map. In 1947, the IGN receives the mission of covering the whole France, but also all the dependents' territories, like North Africa, Western Africa, Madagascar, the countries associated with Indochina and the departments and overseas territories. The task is considerable with more than 12 million km ² being covered. The independence of these countries will have as a consequence the creation of national services in each country (examples: DTGC in Senegal, IGN-N in Niger). To carry out the aerial survey task, the IGN was equipped in 1948 with several ex USAAF Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, specially modified for the task. They were based at Creil airfield to the north of Paris. The aircraft were replaced by French-built Hurel-Dubois HD.34 twin engined survey aircraft in the late 1950s. The IGN then initiates a period of active co-operation with the majority of these organizations by providing some engineers of the IGN and also receive the students of the ENSG who intended to become the executives of the cartographic services of new independent countries. The activity of the IGN apart from the French territory also develops by the control geodesic project(Ecuador 1975, Libya 1979, Saudi Arabia 1981), of cartography (Saudi Arabia, Burundi, Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin...).

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Current logo of Institut national de l’information géographique et forestière

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière

In research: Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1940 establishments in France, Geography of France, Government agencies of France, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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Frequently asked questions

What is Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière in simple terms?

Why does Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière.