Here is Cartes IGN, the French app that could quickly compete with Google Maps and Waze, we show you how to use it

The IGN Maps mobile application has the advantage of being French and of being a competitor to the famous Google Maps and Waze. It offers a route functionality, among other possibilities.

If you don’t know it, you should get to know IGN Maps, the cartographic and navigation application supported by the National Institute of Geographic and Forestry Information. Free and French, the tool was launched in its new form on May 15, 2024 by the Minister of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion, Christophe Béchu. It shines with its off-road aspect, in that it can help you move around, in that it can serve as a tourist guide and in that it can also take you into history. We show you how it works and why it’s a favorite.

IGN maps, undeniable qualities, but still lacking in navigation monitoring

The strength of Cartes IGN is probably its share of maps and data. When you open the application, it offers you a map and four tabs: “Explore”, “Move”, “Compare” (our favorite) and “Saved”. You will also notice a tab designating layers, with a total of 23 backgrounds and thematic data, such as the forest map superimposed on the map you are viewing, the hydrographic network and others.

If you want to use the navigation app like Google Maps or Waze, it’s obviously possible, to a certain extent, and IGN Maps does its job well. When you therefore want to use the “Move” functionality, two options are available to you: you can choose to calculate a route from your position or any other starting point; or trace your own route point by point, following or not following the roads and paths.

The application here offers two ways to get around: either on foot or by vehicle. The tool is here, we grant you, still a little limited, since it does not offer, for example, the possibility of choosing public transport. You can then ask the app to offer you the fastest or shortest route. Privacy policy that is very respectful of your data requires that IGN Maps does not yet offer real-time tracking of your journey. For some, this lack will be enough to look elsewhere. Unless that’s not exactly what you’re looking for.

The Explore and Compare features, for the pleasure of learning more about the area where you are located

The two other major features of IGN Maps allow you to discover our territories in all their richness and diversity. If you have fun with the “Explore” option, you will be able to have an overview of all the points of interest in the surrounding area, by geolocating yourself, with the possibility of defining a distance around you, a maximum duration to travel and to select one or more centers of interest.

Another tool, and this is undoubtedly the functionality that will pique your curiosity the most, because who has never dreamed of seeing what their neighborhood, their childhood town or their favorite place of escape was like 20 or 60 years ago? , or even 70 years? With the “Compare” option, Cartes IGN offers to go back in time. If nostalgia is appropriate, the tool also serves to become aware of the transformation of our towns and countryside.

It is in any case not a surprise to see the evolution of the application. At the head of the National Institute of Geographic and Forestry Information, we find a certain Sébastien Soriano, president of ARCEP, the telecommunications authority, between 2015 and 2021.

Although its name has just changed, the IGN Maps application was until now known as “Géoportail”, already downloaded more than a million times. In theory therefore, if the latter was already installed on your smartphone, the switch to IGN Maps will take place during the next update, if it has not already done so.

The IGN Maps application is available on Google Play and the App Store.