The first thing to know is that the service is a Yellow Page service and tailored to that, and viewing satellite images is just an added "Goody". So it is made to locate things such as commerce, administration.

The link is at: http://www.pagesjaunes.fr/pj.cgi  (requires Flash Plug-in)

where you will be presented with a familiar Yellow pages display. At the top there is a set of Tabs and the last tab a British flag, for the English section. I've tried that English section a few times and never got to a satellite view... In any case, being English, you can figure it out by yourself...

So back to the French section (that got me to aerial views!!!). You will be presented with 5 fields:

Quoi? (What?).
Qui? (Who?).
Ou? (Where). With 3 sub-fields
--> Adresse? (address)
--> Localite? (Town/Village)
--> Departement ou Region? (Administrative region or department)

Often it is sufficient to give only the town or village (Localite) and something likely to be found in the Quoi (What) field (remember, this thing searches for addresses!). Good generic targets for the "Quoi" are "Mairie" (Town hall), "Gare" (railroad station), "QUINCAILLERIES" (Hardware store), Pharmacie (Pharmacy) and Garage.

Then you click on "Rechercher" (search) button. What you are looking for is a address followed by, in red: "| Plan | Vue a&eacuterienne | Itin&eacuteraire | Envoi". Click on "Vue Aerienne" (Aerial view). The aerial view option is not always there...

Note that if none of the "Quoi" thing you entered is found, it may bring you to another close by, like a garage in the next town... Some results have a title "Hors departement...", that means outside of the region!