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Getting Started with the Vexcel Viewer

Getting Started with the Vexcel Viewer

Welcome to the Vexcel Viewer! Here you will find a powerful tool for analyzing and interpreting aerial imagery. This page will get you off to a successful start. 

Supported Browsers

The Viewer is supported in Chrome, the new Microsoft Edge, and Firefox.

Internet Explorer is not supported. Performance is not guaranteed in any other browser.

Viewer Access

The Viewer can be accessed here: http://app.vexcelgroup.com or http://app.gic.org.

Access via Federated Authentication

Vexcel’s federated authentication capability allows users to easily access the Viewer through their own corporate credentials instead of having to remember another username and password. For this to work, your company must be set up to use federated authentication with the Viewer.

If your company has been set up for federated authentication in the Viewer, you will automatically be routed through the federated auth login flow when attempting to access the Viewer. There is no special action required on your part.

If your company is not set up to use federated authentication, you will need to provide a traditional username and password to access the Viewer.

If your company would like to be set up to use federated authentication, the setup process is easy. Contact support@vexcelgroup.com to begin the process.

Traditional Account (Username and Password)

If your company is not set up to use federated authentication, you will need to provide a traditional username and password to access the Viewer. These accounts must be initiated by Vexcel and the setup must be completed by you, the account owner.

Setting Up Your Traditional Account

When your traditional Viewer account is initiated, you will receive an email welcoming you and directing you to complete the setup of your account. Click Activate Account in your welcome email and follow the directions. You will be prompted to enter your name and create a password. Passwords must:

  • Have at least 8 characters and no more than 24 characters

  • Have at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, and one number

  • Have at least one special character: ! @ # $ % ^ & *

  • Not contain any white spaces (the character created by using the spacebar)

Once you finish setting up your account, follow the directions on screen to log in to the Viewer.

Warning: The use of special characters apart from the approved list (! @ # $ % ^ & *) may cause problems when requesting API authentication tokens.

Logging In (Traditional Accounts)

In your browser, navigate to app.vexcelgroup.com or app.gic.org.

Enter your email address, then click Continue.

Enter your password, then click Sign In.

Resetting Your Password (Traditional Accounts)

To reset your password, navigate to http://app.vexcelgroup.com or http://app.gic.org in your browser, enter your email address, then click Continue.

Instead of entering your password, click Forgot password.

On the next screen, confirm the email address associated with your account, then click Send reset link.

An email with instructions for creating a new password will be sent to the email you entered. If you don’t receive your password reset email, check your spam or junk folder. Follow the directions in this email to access your account.

Viewer Tools Overview

Once you log in, you will be greeted with the Viewer. The exact appearance of the Viewer, as well as availability of data, features, and other components may vary depending on your service agreement.

In the upper-right corner of the top banner there is a user menu with a several options.

  • User menu: In the user menu, you can log out or change your password. Note that if you are using the Viewer via federated authentication access, you will not have an option to reset your password.

  • Notifications: The notification icon allows you to easily see when new Gray Sky imagery is published in areas you have access to. For additional documentation regarding this feature, please refer to the Notifications section.

  • Change instance button: The grid icon allows you to change your instance, if you have more than one available. This option will not show if you don’t have access to multiple instances.

  • Help and support menu: The “?”  icon is a help center where you can give feedback, find assistance, and access helpful articles.

  • Home button: The home button will reset the Viewer to your default view - either an overview of your imagery access, or, if you have full worldwide access, it will show an overview of the earth.

The Viewer’s main toolbar is located on the left side of the window. When you select one of the icons there, that tool opens. Clicking the icon again closes the tool.

You can pan around the map by holding the left mouse button on the map and dragging the mouse around the screen. To zoom in or out, use the scroll wheel on your mouse, or the +/- buttons in the lower right corner of the map.

The compass control allows you to change the orientation and direction of your imagery.

Right-clicking anywhere on the map opens a small menu. Here you can copy the latitude and longitude for that location, re-center the map to that location, zoom in or out, open the Property and Location Information tool to get info for that location, or open the Export GeoTIFF tool.

Right click > Get Info opens the property and location information tool and shows information for the location. The information box displays:

  • The location’s address

  • The latitude and longitude for the location, in decimal degrees

  • The date and time when the image was captured, if imagery is available in that location. The time is given in the time zone of the image’s location, not your own.

There is also an option to Open image gallery. For documentation regarding this feature, please refer to the Image Gallery section.

There is also a section for Elements property information. For documentation regarding Elements, please refer to the Elements section.

Most tools and functions in the Viewer have hover-over messages that appear when you hover your mouse above the button. These are useful for understanding what a tool does or understanding the status of a tool that might be unavailable for a certain reason.