diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c4471dc..fb9b21a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -60,9 +60,11 @@ docker compose up
 Start the service with tracing enabled:
 
 ```shell
-TRACING_ENABLED=true COLLECTOR_ENDPOINT="http://localhost:4317" mvn compile exec:java
+MAVEN_OPTS="-Djava.io.tmpdir=target/classes/static-resources" TRACING_ENABLED=true COLLECTOR_ENDPOINT="http://localhost:4317" mvn compile exec:java
 ```
 
+**Note**: The MAVEN_OPTS is only required if you are using a local file system (i.e. no `GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS` provided)
+
 ## Using the Application
 
 Once the application is running (default port: 9000), you can interact with it through multiple interfaces:
diff --git a/src/main/java/akka/haiku/storage/infrastructure/LocalStorage.java b/src/main/java/akka/haiku/storage/infrastructure/LocalStorage.java
index 7ca9cf4..8f5e45d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/akka/haiku/storage/infrastructure/LocalStorage.java
+++ b/src/main/java/akka/haiku/storage/infrastructure/LocalStorage.java
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@ public String uploadPng(byte[] data, String pathPrefix, String namePrefix) {
 
       Files.write(tempFile, data);
 
-      return "file://"+tempFile.toAbsolutePath();
+      //This relies on the param MAVEN_OPTS="-Djava.io.tmpdir=target/classes/static-resources"
+      // being supplied to override the temp file to go to the server static file location
+      return "/static/"+tempFile.getFileName().toString();
     } catch (IOException e) {
       log.error("Error while trying to store the PNG file", e);
       throw new RuntimeException(e);