Off-Site Insight by First Base Solutions

What's new, what's coming In 2018, we accomplished important behind-the-scenes work in preparation for the upcoming launch of MapCast 2.0 in 2019. We also got to work developing relationships with data providers to bring new value-added mapping products to our MapWarehouse store as well as producing a library of mini tutorials to help you use them.

Fill out a requisition and hope someone signs it, or... You see the value in the service, but how to convince someone else? Leverage the rapport you have with your manager combined with the tips below to get your company on MapCast . Here's how to talk to your boss like a boss. If The Boss Says...     "The way we've always done it works fine." Change is hard, there will be resistance. Your boss probably spent a long time and lots of money on getting the current system running as well as it does and feels hesitant to throw it away. The 'ain't broke, don't fix it' strategy doesn't usually cut it when it comes to technology though.

Still a top question after all these years! You need to review your shopping cart before heading to the checkout. The tools to do this are hiding in plain sight. Before placing that angry phone call, please watch this one minute video. Related: Using MapWarehouse [Video]  

Start with a free sample file LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) is a technology that essentially takes pictures using laser pulses instead of visible light. You've likely heard about LiDAR in the context of self-driving cars, since the returning laser pulses from a car mounted LiDAR system produce a point cloud telling the car about objects around it in three dimensional space. By using a LiDAR system mounted on an aircraft, the three dimensional information can be used to create topographic maps of the terrain below. Bare earth elevation models are available on MapWarehouse in GeoTiff format. They are easy to use and highly accurate at +/- 10cm. Download the sample file and follow along with the video below to get started with LiDAR.

Is it ready yet? ...How about now? ...Now? The aerial imagery collection window in Ontario is short for the most popular leaf-off ortho products, around 6-8 weeks. Typically we can start flying in late March and it all wraps up by early May, weather dependent. In this time frame we cover a lot of ground, often capturing imagery for several municipalities. Once the intense flying season is over, the next six months are spent back at the office processing the raw images into an application-ready mosaic and posting the data to the MapWarehouse store, VuMAP , and MapCast . During this six month period we frequently get asked, "Is it ready yet? ...How about now? ...Now?" There are three ways you can keep in the loop when new data is released.