We discuss scaling limits of random planar maps chosen uniformly over the set of all 2p-angulations with n faces. This leads to a limiting space called the Brownian map, which is viewed as a random compact metric space. Although we are not able to prove the uniqueness of the distribution of the Brownian map, many of its properties can be investigated in detail. In particular, we obtain a complete description of the geodesics starting from the distinguished point called the root. We give applications to various properties of large random planar maps.