Off-Site Insight by First Base Solutions

Mapping as a Service   Take a tour of the latest features [ VIDEO 26:20 ]  

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.

School's out on Monday and the kids are acting like caged animals? Take them to see these amazing creatures. A few of the best shots from around the Toronto Zoo captured over the last few years in our aerial imagery.

512 RGB Visualizations to choose from The satellite imagery we provide is often ordered as "natural colour" with red, green, and blue spectral bands to simply provide a base layer for mapping in areas where aircraft sourced orthophoto is not available or not current enough. For more sophisticated applications, multi-spectral imagery with 4 bands or 8 bands can be ordered to view imagery in "false colour".

Standardized and simplified spatial references EPSG stands for European Petroleum Survey Group. They publish a database of coordinate system information. The EPSG number is a 4 to 6 digit number that represents the parameters of a coordinate reference system. EPSG numbers are embedded in georeferenced files, and assigned by the user to mapping projects that can display those files.

If you've missed our recent lunch & learn event, here's a quick summary of what the combined power of First Base and Planet have to offer Satellite imagery from Planet is ideal for both visual and analytical uses. The agile approach to aerospace allows the entire earth to be captured every single day with a turnaround time of just a few hours. Top uses include: • Engineering • Agriculture • Planning & Design • Natural Resources • Infrastructure • Consulting • Business Intelligence • Crisis Management What's Available? Fresh: New imagery is added daily! Archives: Planet offers hand touched, colour balanced mosaics with low or no cloud. Mosaic basemaps are compiled from the best images weekly, monthly, and quarterly.

Helping you navigate the new system 10 years ago FBSWMS (First Base Solutions Web Mapping Service) was launched to deliver our aerial imagery mosaic base layers directly to your desktop mapping projects. In 2016 FBSWMS was rebranded as MapCast reflecting the expanded capabilities of the service to be used with more connection types. This year, we're improving MapCast again with new administrator tools to build custom subscriptions and track your users, plus an expanding data catalogue. If you've been with us from the beginning, here's some tips to smooth the transition. New MapCast Self Sign Up Process

Use our services in combination to get exactly what you want faster FBS sells aerial imagery, plus mapping data provided through reseller agreements with Teranet, Planet, TRCA and many others. The data is delivered to the end user through our three services: VuMAP, MapWarehouse, and MapCast. Watch the video tutorial and follow along with the transcript below: In the past, each service stood on it's own as an access point for different types of users. Legal researchers and those without desktop mapping software prefer VuMAP 's web based application. Developers and engineers that work extensively around a single site rely on MapWarehouse for downloadable georeferenced data tiles. Consultants, especially those who frequently look at details of many sites, are dedicated MapCast users. We cannot offer all types of partner data on all services, however, the services can be used together to get everything you need in less time. Let's go through an example working with Ter...

Civic holiday is here! Before you could easily whisk away to the Caribbean for a tropical vacation, local beach towns were in their hay day with boardwalks, hotels, and tourist amenities of all kinds. Explore your options below before hitting the road with this beaches orthophoto tour around the Great Lakes shoreline.

Where did the imagery come from?  Even with limited information, a trained eye can glean clues in aerial imagery to learn more about it's origin. If this is your first time working with remote sensing data, here's some tips to research and interpret aerial imagery to make sure you've got the latest and greatest.

Have you tried turning it off and turning it back on again? The top roadblocks to success with your MapCast subscription and how to address them. In general terms, these checklists are the most relevant questions to ask to solve the most common issues when getting started with MapCast in any type of CAD or GIS. Consult your software's help files for specific instructions.

In Ontario, parcel mapping defining the boundaries of each property is maintained by Teranet. First Base Solutions is the official map data reseller to Canadian businesses working in land development, engineering, natural resources and more. How To Buy Parcels In CAD & GIS Formats If you use CAD or GIS software for your mapping projects, there are two recommended ways to purchase a section of the data in DWG or SHP format; MapWarehouse or custom order.

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.

Will it Work?  First, 20cm imagery is not the same as 1:20 map scale. Maps are created with mix and match combinations of data sources. Each source may be fine on its own, but will the information make sense in the final composition? If you trust the source data providers are reliable and you've got a handle on the datum and projection issues but the finished map looks awful, consider mismatches in scale.

Dear First Base Solutions, Your company does aerial imagery and mapping services, so why does your name sound like a baseball company? Another rarely asked question, and one we're happy to answer. You see, 'Base' as in 'First Base' comes from 'Base Mapping', as in, our data is the 'First Base' layer for your project. Our 'Solution' is to enhance decision making for projects in any industry through the use of reliable, high quality information. I Thought A Base Map Was The Same As A Topo?

RAQ: How to export details of your saved research from VuMAP to a spreadsheet. For a lightweight application, VuMAP sure does some heavy lifting when it comes to day to day productivity in your real estate or law practice. Today's rarely asked question highlights a simple but powerful built-in tool that will help speed up your research; the query tool. Find the location on a map Query to review the attributes of features in the area Bookmark the chosen features Save the attribute information to a spreadsheet   The video below will show you how, and lets you preview the property parcel features you won't see with a free trial subscription.