BlomURBEX - Getting started / Free capabilities
centremapslive.com provides BlomURBEX as a part of our on-line portal for mapping information. If you don't already have an account then you can register without charge by providing an e-mail and password.
Once logged in you may freely navigate to our standard mapping purchase options or instead choose to access our BlomURBEX offering. All are linked by a common account area. No charges are made until you commit to purchasing data or licensing views.
BlomURBEX requires no software installation and has been tested on a number of browsers both across Windows and AppleMAC operating systems.
- Location mapping and BlomURBEX availability
- Searching
- Switching to BlomURBEX mode
- Navigating vertical and oblique imagery
- Oblique imagery tiles
Location mapping and BlomURBEX availability:
On first entering BlomURBEX, the UK is visible with green areas denoting available coverage whilst red areas denote captured imagery currently being uploaded.
Further coverage across Europe is visible on zooming out.
For fast location of your site a range of search tools are available including accurate address searching for the UK.
Alternatively, the range of location mapping provided in the form of GoogleMaps can help you to simply pan and zoom to your required location.
Once the required location has been identified, simply check for a green BlomURBEX link showing availability for your area before clicking to access the dataset.
Navigating vertical and oblique imagery:
Panning - when in BlomURBEX mode, as for Google Maps mode, simply click and hold the left mouse button and then drag the mapping in the direction required.
Zooming - this can be done in 3 ways:
- Click on the + or - symbols found at the top and bottom of the zoom bar
- Drag the zoom indicator up the bar to zoom in or down to zoom out
- Double click to zoom in on the current mouse pointer position
- Use mouse scroller (if available) to zoom in or out
Switching between "ortho" and "oblique":
Ortho refers to standard, seamlessly merged aerial imagery which has no obvious joins. This is the standard view when first entering BlomURBEX and can be returned to by clicking on the dot in the middle of the compass rose.
Oblique refers to aerial views at an angle (commonly approximately 45 degrees) to the horizontal, looking from the North, East, South and West. Each of these viewing directions is available by clicking on the appropriate part of the compass rose.
Tracking position:
An additional index map remains displayed whilst in GoogleMap mode in order to provided a constant location reference
It should be noted that unlike the vertical imagery, oblique images are presented in their original format as standalone images which have been georectified to fix their position and scale.
Each viewing direction is made up of overlapping images. On first switching to a view direction the image whose centre is closest to your chosen location is selected. On reaching the edge of an image, the next will be shown.
In practice, this makes little difference to the way the imagery is viewed and used but it can help to understand why you may find that the image suddenly "jumps" and the detail is viewed from a slightly different perspective.
Comparing two neighbouring images (full image view):
Comparing two neighbouring images (close up partial view):
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