diff --git a/admin/app/controllers/maps_controller.ts b/admin/app/controllers/maps_controller.ts
index 3ce6e18..451271f 100644
--- a/admin/app/controllers/maps_controller.ts
+++ b/admin/app/controllers/maps_controller.ts
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ export default class MapsController {
   constructor(private mapService: MapService) {}
 
   async index({ inertia }: HttpContext) {
-    const baseAssetsCheck = await this.mapService.checkBaseAssetsExist()
+    const baseAssetsCheck = await this.mapService.ensureBaseAssets()
     const regionFiles = await this.mapService.listRegions()
     return inertia.render('maps', {
       maps: {
@@ -23,11 +23,6 @@ export default class MapsController {
     })
   }
 
-  async checkBaseAssets({}: HttpContext) {
-    const exists = await this.mapService.checkBaseAssetsExist()
-    return { exists }
-  }
-
   async downloadBaseAssets({ request }: HttpContext) {
     const payload = await request.validateUsing(remoteDownloadValidatorOptional)
     await this.mapService.downloadBaseAssets(payload.url)
@@ -75,6 +70,15 @@ export default class MapsController {
   }
 
   async styles({ response }: HttpContext) {
+    // Automatically ensure base assets are present before generating styles
+    const baseAssetsExist = await this.mapService.ensureBaseAssets()
+    if (!baseAssetsExist) {
+      return response.status(500).send({
+        message:
+          'Base map assets are missing and could not be downloaded. Please check your connection and try again.',
+      })
+    }
+
     const styles = await this.mapService.generateStylesJSON()
     return response.json(styles)
   }
diff --git a/admin/app/controllers/settings_controller.ts b/admin/app/controllers/settings_controller.ts
index 3defcc0..ea734b6 100644
--- a/admin/app/controllers/settings_controller.ts
+++ b/admin/app/controllers/settings_controller.ts
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ export default class SettingsController {
     }
 
     async maps({ inertia }: HttpContext) {
-        const baseAssetsCheck = await this.mapService.checkBaseAssetsExist();
+        const baseAssetsCheck = await this.mapService.ensureBaseAssets();
         const regionFiles = await this.mapService.listRegions();
         return inertia.render('settings/maps', {
             maps: {
diff --git a/admin/app/services/map_service.ts b/admin/app/services/map_service.ts
index 1e0a8e6..54e9420 100644
--- a/admin/app/services/map_service.ts
+++ b/admin/app/services/map_service.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ import { extract } from 'tar'
 import env from '#start/env'
 import {
   listDirectoryContentsRecursive,
-  listDirectoryContents,
   getFileStatsIfExists,
   deleteFileIfExists,
   getFile,
@@ -50,6 +49,7 @@ export class MapService implements IMapService {
   private readonly basemapsAssetsDir = 'basemaps-assets'
   private readonly baseAssetsTarFile = 'base-assets.tar.gz'
   private readonly baseDirPath = join(process.cwd(), this.mapStoragePath)
+  private baseAssetsExistCache: boolean | null = null
 
   async listRegions() {
     const files = (await this.listAllMapStorageItems()).filter(
@@ -93,6 +93,9 @@ export class MapService implements IMapService {
 
     await deleteFileIfExists(tempTarPath)
 
+    // Invalidate cache since we just downloaded new assets
+    this.baseAssetsExistCache = true
+
     return true
   }
 
@@ -170,6 +173,15 @@ export class MapService implements IMapService {
 
     const filepath = join(process.cwd(), this.mapStoragePath, 'pmtiles', filename)
 
+
+    // First, ensure base assets are present - regions depend on them
+    const baseAssetsExist = await this.ensureBaseAssets()
+    if (!baseAssetsExist) {
+      throw new Error(
+        'Base map assets are missing and could not be downloaded. Please check your connection and try again.'
+      )
+    }
+
     // Dispatch background job
     const result = await RunDownloadJob.dispatch({
       url,
@@ -250,18 +262,6 @@ export class MapService implements IMapService {
     return styles
   }
 
-  async checkBaseAssetsExist() {
-    const storageContents = await this.listMapStorageItems()
-    const baseStyleItem = storageContents.find(
-      (item) => item.type === 'file' && item.name === this.baseStylesFile
-    )
-    const basemapsAssetsItem = storageContents.find(
-      (item) => item.type === 'directory' && item.name === this.basemapsAssetsDir
-    )
-
-    return !!baseStyleItem && !!basemapsAssetsItem
-  }
-
   async listCuratedCollections(): Promise<CuratedCollectionWithStatus[]> {
     const collections = await CuratedCollection.query().where('type', 'map').preload('resources')
     return collections.map((collection) => ({
@@ -303,9 +303,37 @@ export class MapService implements IMapService {
     }
   }
 
-  private async listMapStorageItems(): Promise<FileEntry[]> {
+  async ensureBaseAssets(): Promise<boolean> {
+    const exists = await this.checkBaseAssetsExist()
+    if (exists) {
+      return true
+    }
+
+    return await this.downloadBaseAssets()
+  }
+
+  private async checkBaseAssetsExist(useCache: boolean = true): Promise<boolean> {
+    // Return cached result if available and caching is enabled
+    if (useCache && this.baseAssetsExistCache !== null) {
+      return this.baseAssetsExistCache
+    }
+
     await ensureDirectoryExists(this.baseDirPath)
-    return await listDirectoryContents(this.baseDirPath)
+
+    const baseStylePath = join(this.baseDirPath, this.baseStylesFile)
+    const basemapsAssetsPath = join(this.baseDirPath, this.basemapsAssetsDir)
+
+    const [baseStyleExists, basemapsAssetsExists] = await Promise.all([
+      getFileStatsIfExists(baseStylePath),
+      getFileStatsIfExists(basemapsAssetsPath),
+    ])
+
+    const exists = !!baseStyleExists && !!basemapsAssetsExists
+
+    // update cache
+    this.baseAssetsExistCache = exists
+
+    return exists
   }
 
   private async listAllMapStorageItems(): Promise<FileEntry[]> {
diff --git a/admin/start/routes.ts b/admin/start/routes.ts
index 87401d4..ac0aac7 100644
--- a/admin/start/routes.ts
+++ b/admin/start/routes.ts
@@ -60,7 +60,6 @@ router
   .group(() => {
     router.get('/regions', [MapsController, 'listRegions'])
     router.get('/styles', [MapsController, 'styles'])
-    router.get('/preflight', [MapsController, 'checkBaseAssets'])
     router.get('/curated-collections', [MapsController, 'listCuratedCollections'])
     router.post('/fetch-latest-collections', [MapsController, 'fetchLatestCollections'])
     router.post('/download-base-assets', [MapsController, 'downloadBaseAssets'])