I'll be getting the Openport 1.2 cable and am looking to get some advise on tuning. Is anyone sharing any base maps similar to the canned stage maps out there, or should I just start by modifying the stock map?

I wouldn't recommend tuning your own car unless you are confident in your own abilities. Since you're asking such a general question like "I need some advise on tuning" rather than something very specific like "what should my max WDC be at 5000rpm with so-and-so mods?", I have to assume you don't have the knowledge and/or skills to be tuning your own car.

See if you can talk a local tuner into using the Openecu stuff to tune your car. Someone familiar with Streettuner or Ecutek should recognize most of it, besides the lack of realtime maps of AP, and the different interface. The maps are the same, though.

There are pretty much no staged maps out there, yet.

Please do to openecu.org and post there.

We can help you tune there.

I am currently working on a NY USDM WRX there

I'll be getting the Openport 1.2 cable and am looking to get some advise on tuning. Is anyone sharing any base maps similar to the canned stage maps out there, or should I just start by modifying the stock map?

first off you need to read ans save your base map. and by save i mean in like 4 places. then you need to see if its the 160k map or the 192k map, and upgrade to the 192K if nessary. then lastly, you need to read everything you can find on tuning theory and what not. you should start here http://www.accessecu.com/support/ap-usersguide-wrx.pdf