Modernisation of Benin National Base Map
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Modernisation of Benin National Base Map

The consortium involving IGN France International/IGN France and IMAO won the tender for the completion of the Benin national base map. The project officially started on 16 December 2014 with the organisation of the kick-off meeting in Cotonou in the presence of the European Union representative in Benin, the minister of environment responsible for climate change, reforestation and natural resources protection and the UNDP resident representative.

With a total budget of EUR8.3 million (about FCFA5.4 billion), the PAPDFGC (project aimed to support the preservation and development of gallery forests and production of the digital base map) is funded by the EU European part of the Global Alliance Against Climate Change (AMCC), for a total of EUR8 million (about FCFA5.2 billion) and UNDP for a total amount of EUR300,000 (about FCFA200 million).


This project will consist in the completion of the Benin base map that had not been updated since 1970s and that no longer reflects the realities of Benin today.


Professionals from many sectors look forward to using the new base map as they daily suffer from the lack of accurate data. Map is particularly useful in many fields such as water resources management, forests protection, road infrastructures development, prevention of natural crisis, biodiversity protection and urban planning.


Once updated the new database will generate the following outputs:

  • A national coverage in aerial photographs

  • A detailed Digital Terrain Model

  • A national coverage in high resolution ortho-photos

  • Topographic maps at various scales (1:50,000; 1:200,000 and a general map covering the whole country at the scale 1:600,000)

  • And a geo-information portal in order to disseminate the data


To ensure the successful transfer of know-how, 4 production workshops (image processing, 3D capture, database and mapping) will be deployed on site. A special attention will be given to the recruitment of the local expertise.


The whole production will be carried-out on site in Benin by local operators. The completion of projects with a strong component of local transfer of know-how is the IGN FI trademark. Several similar mapping projects were successfully achieved in Senegal, and in Burkina Faso. Each time, 100% of the production was completed locally.

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