How To Work Remotely with FBS Imagery

We'll hook you up!

We're still flying. As an essential part of the supply chain for other businesses to continue operations, First Base is practicing physical distancing while remaining open. If your work place is doing the same, rest assured the aerial imagery services you rely on for mapping projects will continue to be provided as usual.

Are you working from home?

If your new work arrangement includes remote desktops, VPN, or some other work around to support a remote work force, your geospatial needs may have changed as well. Luckily there's more than one way to access our imagery: MapWarehouse, VuMAP, and MapCast.

Is your CAD or GIS software installed at home?

Lucky you! If you normally use MapCast, you can continue to connect through the "Add WMS/WTMS" function using your unique URL you were given when you subscribed. As long as you have reliable internet, you can access the service from anywhere. Microstation users can redownload their dgn coverages from the downloads tab on your dashboard.
Now might be the right time to sign up for our free trial.

On the other hand, if your home internet service, is slow, limited, or just unavailable, MapWarehouse is a better choice. Downloading only the coverage you really need and saving it locally will save time and bandwidth. The files are often 1-2 MB for jpg or MrSid covering 500m x 500m, small enough to email. You can also log into your account and download the imagery from your order history as many times as you need.

MapWarehouse allows you to download image and map data in tiles using a common grid.

Are you connecting to your work computer's CAD or GIS software remotely?

You can control your work computer using the mouse and keyboard at home. It works, but it's not as fast and responsive as being there in person. You can still use MapCast, but the nested internet connection within an internet connection could mean performance issues. If you can, make use of MapWarehouse's downloaded image tiles, saving them on the servers at work where your CAD or GIS application can access them locally.

Is your normal mapping software unavailable?

This is VuMAP's time to shine. With only an internet connection you can log in to your subscription from anywhere. All the imagery found on the other services can be previewed along with additional mapping data and a few basic tools. Many less technical users use VuMAP as their exclusive mapping tool.
There's also a free trial.

One last option for MapCast subscribers without access to their normal software is to download a kml file of the coverage you need from the "Downloads" tab on you MapCast dashboard. Leave the projection setting as the default (geographic), then choose the coverage area and year from the drop down menus below. Open the kml file with Google Earth to browse the imagery.

Download a KML file to work with MapCast in Google Earth.

None of these options work for me.

If the imagery service you normally use no longer fits the bill, please contact us. We're open to working to with you to provide a flexible solution to keep everyone working.

Please email us for support. We're open. info@firstbasesolutions.com