Last December, IGN France International won a bid launched by the European Union, on the completion of an urban cartographic database. The main towns of the country are lacking in both databases and precise and up-to-date cartography. This project that will last 25 months, will provide the Sewerage National Office with relevant information useful for the urban development of the targeted areas. The Office has selected the 7 priority towns that are the following: Dakar, Thiès, Mbour, Saly, Louga, Kaolack and St-Louis.
A very dense network of geodetic pillars and benchmarks will be deployed in these areas because most of the Senegalese towns are very flat. Such a network will be indispensable to help in the completion and in the 
implementation of the sewerage networks. A 20 cm resolution aerial photography is currently being completed. Field missions will contribute to the quality control of these surveys before the delivery of the databases and the corresponding maps at 1/2000 in their final version » explains Christophe GRATEAU, IGN France International regional director.
This aerial photography will also be exploited in 3D photogrammetric restitution workshops within the local mapping agency, the Directorate of Geographic and Mapping Works (DTGC) that is from now on under the umbrella of the brand new Urban Planning National Agency (ANAT). This kind of project which includes a strong level of local production thanks to a skills transfer from 2 IGN France agents, is in line with the strategy of development assistance of the European Union During the length of the project, several awareness meetings will be organised so that most of the decision makers in the urban development field can benefit from this experience.
A first workshop that will take place in Dakar by the end of March, will present the first results (aerial photographs and geodetic reference points networks…). In 2008, IGN France International completed the 1/200 000 map of the country, in partnership with the DTGC. Contact
