diff --git a/modules/renderer/background_source.js b/modules/renderer/background_source.js
index 0451131e4..7e7fc7019 100644
--- a/modules/renderer/background_source.js
+++ b/modules/renderer/background_source.js
@@ -255,6 +255,7 @@ rendererBackgroundSource.Esri = function(data) {
         var tileId = tileCoord.slice(0, 3).join('/'),
             zoom = Math.min(tileCoord[2], esri.scaleExtent[1]),
             centerPoint = center[0] + ',' + center[1],  // long, lat (as it should be)
+            unknown = t('info_panels.background.unknown'),
             metadataLayer,
             vintage = {},
             metadata = {};
@@ -294,10 +295,10 @@ rendererBackgroundSource.Esri = function(data) {
             };
             metadata = {
                 vintage: null,
-                source: t('info_panels.background.unknown'),
-                description: t('info_panels.background.unknown'),
-                resolution: t('info_panels.background.unknown'),
-                accuracy: t('info_panels.background.unknown')
+                source: unknown,
+                description: unknown,
+                resolution: unknown,
+                accuracy: unknown
             };
 
             callback(null, metadata);
@@ -328,14 +329,28 @@ rendererBackgroundSource.Esri = function(data) {
                     };
                     metadata = {
                         vintage: vintage,
-                        source: result.features[0].attributes.NICE_NAME,
-                        description: result.features[0].attributes.NICE_DESC,
-                        resolution: result.features[0].attributes.SRC_RES,
-                        accuracy: result.features[0].attributes.SRC_ACC,
+                        source: clean(result.features[0].attributes.NICE_NAME),
+                        description: clean(result.features[0].attributes.NICE_DESC),
+                        resolution: clean(result.features[0].attributes.SRC_RES),
+                        accuracy: clean(result.features[0].attributes.SRC_ACC)
                     };
 
+                    // append units - meters
+                    if (isFinite(metadata.resolution)) {
+                        metadata.resolution += ' m';
+                    }
+                    if (isFinite(metadata.accuracy)) {
+                        metadata.accuracy += ' m';
+                    }
+
                     cache[tileId].metadata = metadata;
                     return callback(null, metadata);
+
+
+                    function clean(val) {
+                        return String(val).trim() || unknown;
+                    }
+
                 }
             });
         }
diff --git a/modules/ui/panels/background.js b/modules/ui/panels/background.js
index 04bfae05b..a17146d9f 100644
--- a/modules/ui/panels/background.js
+++ b/modules/ui/panels/background.js
@@ -40,9 +40,7 @@ export function uiPanelBackground(context) {
                 .text(metadata[k]);
         });
 
-        if (!metadata.zoom) {
-            debouncedGetMetadata(selection);
-        }
+        debouncedGetMetadata(selection);
 
         var toggle = context.getDebug('tile') ? 'hide_tiles' : 'show_tiles';
 
@@ -94,14 +92,6 @@ export function uiPanelBackground(context) {
             _.without(metadataKeys, 'zoom', 'vintage')
                 .forEach(function(k) {
                     var val = result[k];
-
-                    // append units to numeric data
-                    if (k === 'resolution' || k === 'accuracy') {
-                        if (val && isFinite(val)) {
-                            val += ' m';
-                        }
-                    }
-
                     metadata[k] = val;
                     selection.selectAll('.background-info-list-' + k)
                         .classed('hide', !val)