Why do I have to ‘Zoom In’ to see more data?

The display of most map layers in this application are scale dependent. For example, maps layers, which were developed from large-scale (lots of detail) maps, such as DNR roads and orthophotos images, would draw (paint) the entire state almost all black if viewed for the entire state. A statewide view of these map layers is essentially meaningless. Also, the volume of data that Internet Map Server would have to process to service your request would be very large and would slow down the display tremendously. To avoid these problems, you cannot select or view certain large-scale (more detailed) map layers until you zoom to a map scale, which is more appropriate and meaningful for viewing those data. For example, you cannot select or view Public Land Survey Sections (PLSS) or place names (GNIS) until you are zoomed in at a scales below 1:100000.

The magnifying glasses, located on the upper left corner of the ‘mapping tools’ toolbar provide incremental zoom in/zoom out functionality. If you have clicked on one of the magnifying glasses, the active tool will be set to either ‘Zoom In’ or ‘Zoom Out’. Subsequent clicks in the map frame will recenter and incrementally resize the map frame.

You can also zoom in and out, using the ‘zoom tool bar’ located on the right margin of the map frame. The blue buttons provide zooming to a predefined display area or scale. A ‘map tip’ describing the course zoom level of the map layers is visible when you pause the cursor over the blue buttons.

You can also zoom in and out by using the navigation tools located under the ‘tools’ menu. Using the ‘tools’ menu you can also pan around the map frame, zoom to a user-specified scale, select your previous geographic extent, select the full geographic extant of the data, and much more…

You can also zoom in and out to specific features of interest by using the ‘select area’ tool. The user can specify the map layer of interest and then pick a specific sub-unit of interest to zoom to. For example, the user can first select ‘elk area’ and then choose the specific elk unit of interest (example: 2032 Malaga) from a pick-list in the pop-up menu.