french map

I would like to know if (as the usa map with Splus), it is possible with 
R to plot the french map and to add points (representing towns for 
instance) on the figure in the appropriate (x,y) system.

You can use my Rmap library 
(http://www.maths.lancs.ac.uk/Software/Rmap/) to plot geographic maps in 
R. You then need to get the data for France. Rmap is tested mostly with 
ESRI shapefile datasets.

  Here are two web sites with French department data sets, but you must 
make sure your use of them conforms with the licensing of the data set:

http://www.cdc.gov/epiinfo/EIeurope.htm
http://www.ign.fr/affiche_rubrique.asp?rbr_id=809&lng_id=FR

  Rmap is in very early stages of development, and so you may have 
problems getting it working on your machine. It is mainly tested on 
Linux platforms, so Windows users may have problems.

Barry Rowlingson
Maths and Stats
Lancaster University
Lancaster, UK