diff --git a/src/components/DownloadFormatChooser/DownloadFormatChooser.vue b/src/components/DownloadFormatChooser/DownloadFormatChooser.vue
index 1e2f16a8..b390dbea 100644
--- a/src/components/DownloadFormatChooser/DownloadFormatChooser.vue
+++ b/src/components/DownloadFormatChooser/DownloadFormatChooser.vue
@@ -53,8 +53,8 @@
     
     async mounted() {
       let supportedOutputFormats = getSupportedOutputFormats(this.layer.serviceType, this.layerCapabilities)
-      supportedOutputFormats = moveInArrayByValue(supportedOutputFormats, 'csv', 0)
-      supportedOutputFormats = moveInArrayByValue(supportedOutputFormats, 'SHAPE-ZIP', 1)
+      supportedOutputFormats = moveInArrayByValue(supportedOutputFormats || [], 'csv', 0)
+      supportedOutputFormats = moveInArrayByValue(supportedOutputFormats || [], 'SHAPE-ZIP', 1)
 
       this.supportedFormats = supportedOutputFormats
     },
diff --git a/src/lib/build-download-url.js b/src/lib/build-download-url.js
index ea9eb500..5911d5b4 100644
--- a/src/lib/build-download-url.js
+++ b/src/lib/build-download-url.js
@@ -7,7 +7,12 @@ import {
 
 export default function({ layer = {}, filters = [], format, coordinates  = '' }) {
 
-  const { url } = layer
+  let url
+  if (layer.downloadUrl) {
+    url = layer.downloadUrl
+  } else {
+    url = layer.url
+  }
 
   const params = createDownloadParameters({ layerData: layer, filters, coordinates, format })
 
diff --git a/src/lib/get-capabilities.js b/src/lib/get-capabilities.js
index f897f822..0afdb916 100644
--- a/src/lib/get-capabilities.js
+++ b/src/lib/get-capabilities.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
+/* Contains any functions and utils related to the wms, wfs and wcs getCapabilities */
 import axios from 'axios'
 import { map, uniq, pipe } from 'ramda'
 
-
 import {
   WCS_LAYER_TYPE,
   WFS_LAYER_TYPE,
@@ -52,7 +52,19 @@ function createParameters(type) {
   }
 }
 
-
+async function getServiceType(serviceUrl) {
+  try {
+     await axios.get(`${serviceUrl.replace('wms', 'wfs') }?${ createParameters('wfs') }`)
+     return 'wfs'
+  } catch (error) {
+      try {
+          await axios.get(`${ serviceUrl.replace('wfs', 'wcs') }?${ createParameters('wcs') }`)
+          return 'wcs'
+      } catch (error) {
+          return 'Unknown'
+      }
+  }
+}
  
 export async function getCapabilities(service, type) {
   /**
@@ -60,13 +72,25 @@ export async function getCapabilities(service, type) {
    * create parameters and make the request
    * parse it as a dom element
    */
-  const _type = type
+
+  
   const serviceUrl = new URL(service)
- 
   const servicePath = `${ serviceUrl.origin }${ serviceUrl.pathname }`
  
-  const { data } = await axios(`${ servicePath }?${ createParameters(_type) }`)
-  return new DOMParser().parseFromString(data, 'text/xml')
+  
+  try {
+   
+    const {data} = await axios(`${ servicePath }?${ createParameters(type) }`)
+    let parsedData = new DOMParser().parseFromString(data, 'text/xml');
+    if (parsedData.getElementsByTagName('ServiceExceptionReport').length > 0) {
+      throw new Error('ServiceExceptionReport found');
+    }
+    return parsedData
+
+  }  catch (error) {
+    const {data} = await axios (`${servicePath.replace('wms', type) }?${ createParameters(type) }`)
+    return new DOMParser().parseFromString(data, 'text/xml')
+  } 
 }
 
 export async function getWmsCapabilities(service) {
@@ -77,7 +101,6 @@ export async function getWmsCapabilities(service) {
   //the getcapabilities returns the capabilities of the layers in the workspace. need to search for the layer first
   const serviceUrl = new URL(service)
   const servicePath = `${ serviceUrl.origin }${ serviceUrl.pathname }`
-  
   const { data } = await axios(`${ servicePath }?service=WMS&request=GetCapabilities`)
 
   return new DOMParser().parseFromString(data, 'text/xml')
@@ -137,7 +160,7 @@ export function isRasterLayer(type, capabilities, layer) {
   return keywords.includes('GeoTIFF')
 }
 
-export function getLayerProperties(capabilities, layer) {
+export async function getLayerProperties(capabilities, layerObject) {
 /**
  * function that reads the wms capabilities response of the workpspace
  * 1. find the given layer
@@ -149,7 +172,8 @@ export function getLayerProperties(capabilities, layer) {
  *    -time extent of layer
  *  
  *  * */
-
+  const {layer} = layerObject
+  const serviceUrl = layerObject.downloadUrl || layerObject.url
   const wmsVersion = pipe(
     () => capabilities.querySelector('WMS_Capabilities'),
     el => el.getAttribute('version'),
@@ -173,7 +197,7 @@ export function getLayerProperties(capabilities, layer) {
     getTags('Keyword'),
     map(getTagContent),  
   )()
-  
+
   if (!keywords.length) {
     
     keywords = pipe(
@@ -183,10 +207,16 @@ export function getLayerProperties(capabilities, layer) {
     )()
     
   }
-  const serviceType = [ 'features', 'wfs', 'FEATURES', 'WFS' ].some(val => keywords.includes(val)) ? 'wfs' 
+ 
+  let serviceType = [ 'features', 'wfs', 'FEATURES', 'WFS' ].some(val => keywords.includes(val)) ? 'wfs' 
         :[ 'WCS', 'GeoTIFF', 'wcs' ].some(val => keywords.includes(val)) ? 'wcs' 
         : null
+  
 
+  if (!serviceType) {
+      serviceType = await getServiceType(serviceUrl)
+  }
+  
   const timeExtent = pipe(
     () => [ ...capabilities.querySelectorAll('[queryable="1"], [queryable="0"], [opaque="0"]') ],
     getChildTags('Name'),
diff --git a/src/lib/wfs-filter-helpers.js b/src/lib/wfs-filter-helpers.js
index f91359fc..4b50000a 100644
--- a/src/lib/wfs-filter-helpers.js
+++ b/src/lib/wfs-filter-helpers.js
@@ -27,7 +27,9 @@ export async function describeFeatureType({ url, layer }) {
   excludes geom
 */
 export function readFeatureProperties(describeFeatureTypeResponse) {
-
+  if (describeFeatureTypeResponse === undefined) {
+    return []
+  }
   const { featureTypes } = describeFeatureTypeResponse
   const properties = featureTypes[0].properties
 
@@ -39,16 +41,20 @@ export function readFeatureProperties(describeFeatureTypeResponse) {
 }
 
 //const of the filterTemplate
-export const filterTemplate = (filters) =>
-  `
+export function filterTemplate(filters) {
+  if (filters.length) {
+    return `
 <ogc:Filter
 	xmlns:ogc="http://www.opengis.net/ogc">
 	<ogc:And>
-    ${ filters.length ? createOgcFiltersXml(filters) : '' }
+    ${ createOgcFiltersXml(filters) }
   </ogc:And>
 </ogc:Filter>
 
 `
+  }
+  return ''
+}
 //For each filter object in the filtersArray, calls the ogcFilterLibrary to create the filter based on the comparer case
 function createOgcFiltersXml(filtersArray) {
   let ogcFilters = ''
diff --git a/src/store/modules/map/index.js b/src/store/modules/map/index.js
index dd1fe42a..0bb9dc82 100644
--- a/src/store/modules/map/index.js
+++ b/src/store/modules/map/index.js
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ export default {
 
       layersToAdd.forEach((layer) => {
         getWmsCapabilities(layer.url)
-          .then(capabilities => getLayerProperties(capabilities, layer.layer))
+          .then(capabilities => getLayerProperties(capabilities, layer))
           .then(({ serviceType, timeExtent, wmsVersion, bbox }) => {
             commit('ADD_ACTIVE_FLATTENED_LAYER', { ...layer, ...{ serviceType: serviceType }, ... { timeExtent: timeExtent }, ... { version: wmsVersion }, ... { bbox: bbox } } )
             commit('ADD_WMS_LAYER', buildWmsLayer({ ...layer, ...{ serviceType: serviceType }, ... { timeExtent: timeExtent }, ... { version: wmsVersion }, ... { bbox: bbox } }))