The flood of traffic to the site has meant only about one in five has been able to connect to Geoportal, 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.

"This fantastic interest encourages the promoters of this innovative project to go even further," the IGN said. "But it has also caused the saturation of the site, beyond anything we may have feared."

If the exceptional level of traffic to the website continues, the promoters may need to regulate access to the site, probably on the basis of passwords, the IGN said.

Meanwhile, the Geoportal developers urge patience. Analysts say the average traffic to the most popular French websites is about four million a day.

What internet users are waiting for is the chance to zoom to within 50cm of the ground, a first in Europe.

Unlike Google Earth, which offers views of the entire planet but high resolution only for certain areas, the Geoportal covers the whole of France's territory, on the mainland and overseas.

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.

The $US7.5 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 Geoportal was built using 400,000 aerial photographs compiled and updated every five years by the IGN - as well as 3700 maps - with only certain sensitive or military zones left blurred.

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