diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 617345b..17ba7e6 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Package: LifemapR
 Title: Data Visualisation on 'Lifemap' Tree
 Version: 1.1.0
-Imports: leaflet, shiny, jsonlite, dplyr, leaflet.minicharts, htmltools, rlang
+Imports: leaflet, shiny, jsonlite, dplyr, leaflet.minicharts, htmltools, rlang, RCurl
 Authors@R: c(
     person("Cassandra", "Bompard", role = "aut", email = "cassbomp68@gmail.com"),
     person("Damien M.", "de Vienne", role = "aut", email = "damien.de-vienne@univ-lyon1.fr"),
diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index bd3d434..11a23e3 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ export(lm_piecharts)
 export(make_newick)
 export(pass_infos)
 export(pass_infos_discret)
+importFrom(RCurl,url.exists)
 importFrom(dplyr,bind_rows)
 importFrom(dplyr,distinct)
 importFrom(dplyr,full_join)
@@ -46,7 +47,7 @@ importFrom(leaflet,providerTileOptions)
 importFrom(leaflet,renderLeaflet)
 importFrom(leaflet.minicharts,addMinicharts)
 importFrom(leaflet.minicharts,clearMinicharts)
-importFrom(rlang,.data)
+importFrom(rlang,data)
 importFrom(shiny,fluidPage)
 importFrom(shiny,isolate)
 importFrom(shiny,observe)
diff --git a/R/build_Lifemap.R b/R/build_Lifemap.R
index 5f0e3ea..1da91a8 100644
--- a/R/build_Lifemap.R
+++ b/R/build_Lifemap.R
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@
 #'
 #' @importFrom jsonlite fromJSON
 #' @importFrom dplyr bind_rows distinct
-#' @importFrom rlang .data
+#' @importFrom rlang data
+#' @importFrom RCurl url.exists
 #'
 #' @export
 #' @examples
@@ -52,6 +53,10 @@ build_Lifemap <- function(df, basemap = c("ncbi", "base","fr","virus"), verbose=
 
   # download full data for chosen basemap
   if (verbose) cat("Downloading basemap coordinates...\n")
+
+
+  # ADD A CONTROL HERE TO TEST IF THE URL IS VALID. 
+  if (!url.exists(basemap_url)) stop ("The Lifemap server or some remote lifemap files cannot be reached. Please try again later.")
   load(url(basemap_url), envir=lifemap_basemap_envir)
   # add LUCA
   LUCA <- data.frame(taxid=0,lon=0, lat=-4.226497,sci_name="Luca",zoom=5)
diff --git a/R/display_map.R b/R/display_map.R
index eb2b9dd..756682c 100644
--- a/R/display_map.R
+++ b/R/display_map.R
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 #' @return An HTML widget object  with graphics layers.
 #' @export
 #' @importFrom leaflet leaflet addTiles providerTileOptions
+#' @importFrom RCurl url.exists
 #'
 #' @examples
 #' display_map()
@@ -27,6 +28,7 @@ display_map <- function(df = NULL,basemap = c("fr","ncbi", "base","virus")) {
   } else if (basemap == "virus"){
     display="http://virusmap.univ-lyon1.fr/osm_tiles/{z}/{x}/{y}.png"
   }
+  if (!url.exists(display)) stop ("The Lifemap server or some remote lifemap files cannot be reached. Please try again later.")
   m <- leaflet::leaflet(df) |>
     leaflet::addTiles(display, options = leaflet::providerTileOptions(minZoom = 5, maxZoom = 50))
   return(m)