Geo-evenement 2008 was the stage where Microsoft and Institut Geographique National unveiled a partnership designed to bring additional content to Virtual Earth. The five-year alliance between the Redmond company and IGN means that new aerial imagery of locations across France will be integrated into virtual Earth and made available to its users. The new content coming to Virtual Earth will build on top of the existent aerial imagery that Microsoft's service features. At this point in time, 43 French towns are covered by bird's-eye imagery with an additional nine cities having aerial imagery.

"Our collaboration with IGN will help us bring a new level of realism to Virtual Earth in France," stated Arnaud Gstach, Microsoft Virtual Earth's Business Development Manager in Southern Europe. "Consumers, businesses and government bodies will be able to access quality aerial imagery across the whole of France. This will give users an immersive experience of their neighbourhood or holiday destination, or provide businesses and government bodies with a mapping service for real-estate viewing, town planning, vehicle tracking and store locations."

Microsoft revealed that the BD ORTHO aerial imagery from IGN will start being accessible to end users from May 2008. The Redmond company informed that the new content will cover the entire French territory. The new aerial imagery will feature a 2.5 meters per pixel and 1 m/pixel resolution and will provide a close perspective over France's coastline as well as 45 km inland. The Redmond company stated that the resolution of aerial imagery in urban areas will reach 50 centimeters per pixel.

"Microsoft is committed to delivering the highest quality product for Virtual Earth customers, government organizations and consumers in France, and this imagery agreement is a significant investment helping to achieve this commitment in France," added Erik Jorgensen, general manager of Mapping and Location Services at Microsoft.