Zoom In/Out Too MuchFORUMS HOME SEARCH FORUMS

It sounds like you may have a sticky mouse button DeAnne.  Can you try using a different mouse?

Something new is happening that I don't like. I can't move around well on the map. It zooms way in or it zooms way out and editing my route has become very, very difficult and time-consuming. It will even throw me out of the area completely. I'm not the most patient person in the world and this problem is severely testing my limits. 

Thanks,

DeAnne

Hi Pascal - we have recently had to make major changes to the site due to sudden large prices increases by Google (see our announcement). It is possible that in the area you are looking at the new satellite maps are lower resolution than the Google maps we used previously. However, Google maps are still available to Premium members in the desktop version our our route planner.  You can find out more about the differences between Standard and Premium membership on our Membership Options page.

John

Hello,
I wonder what has happened to the zoom factor available on the Terrain, Satelllit and Hybrid maps.

When I created my last route 24 days ago everything was still fine. Now as I wish to create a new route, I can't zoom in as much as I used to in the past for creating my running routes.

The paths are way too small! I can hardly detect little paths anymore, not to mention normal side walks along regular streets (which are hardly visible now).

Has there been any change to the map resolutions available or to the maximum zoom factor available in the last 24 days?

Cheers,

Pascal

As mentioned by the PAR admins, the zoom increment is controlled by the Google Maps API, not PAR. Short of switching to Leaflet or such, there is no way to change that. FWIW, I agree that Google Maps zooming behaviour is terrible.

However, from what you say, you appear to be trying to do some cartographic work, rather than just plotting a route, which is what PAR is (extremely) good at. To do that properly, you will want to export your GPX / KML from PAR and use mapping / GIS software for the task, such as QGIS or ArcView, or one of the online services (Mapbox?). Or for a slightly more pedestrian but often perfectly good approach, load the KML into Google Earth or another virtual globe application and export / print out from there.

Bill, I just had yet another suggestion from a friend:

"My work around is to use a screen capture program then work with the resultant png which drops into any document as a picture. The free app is Jing. The paid version of this program is called Snagit ($50). It has a scroll feature which captures all of the available page even that below the screen. I haven't got it to work yet, but I'm probably missing some tiny little trick. Snagit has a free trial period, tutorials and instructional videos."

Annette

I also tried to Print Screen and paste into a document or photo program.

Then I tried to just print from the browser window and adjusted the size in the print preview window, that seemed to work really well.

Bill

Thanks so much, Bill! I'll give these ideas a try. Anything to keep us from being so frustrated.

The only work arounds I've found are to:

• Save the map as an image file, and then use a photo program to crop the image and then enlarge it to fill the 8-1/2 x 11.
• Print the map as a pdf and then use a program to edit it or convert it to an image and crop as above.

Bill

I'm afraid the level of control we have over zooming is limited by the Google API we use.  There are unfortunately no options to zoom in and out in smaller increments.

John

Exactly! It is a huge problem that all the users I speak with have. Some people go through all the hoops to export from plotaroute to PowerPoint and finish their map there. I just want plotaroute to be my sole map-making program. Instead, I am having to look for other programs that allow me to control the zoom. 

Thanks for backing me up!

I am having the same zooming problem.   I think John is missing the point.  In Microsoft Streets and Trips you could control the amount of zooming, just a little or a lot.  You could even right click a box around the area you wanted to print and it would zoom to that level.

In plotaroute the zoom change proportions appear to be fixed.  You can't take a half zoom step or a quarter of zoom step.

My map is either too small on the page or it goes off the page.  There is no way to zoom to a level in between.

Bill O

Many thanks! Email to follow.

Annette

Hi Annette - If you've got something you can email me to help explain the problem that would be great.  I'll email you directly.

John

I think perhaps I am having trouble explaining exactly what I need. Most of my colleagues are using Microsoft's Streets and Trips, even though it is no longer supported, because it is able to make a clear map of the route on one side of an 8.5" x 11" paper. If you have an email address to where I can submit examples of my problem routes and how the same route appears in Streets and Trips, perhaps my dilemma will be more easily understood. I have done everything I can think of, including taking screen shots and printing those, and I'm still not being successful. I am just one of many people making maps for volkssporting events. We all want to use plotaroute and we are all having some issues. Many thanks for your time.

Annette

Hi Annette - I'm afraid we can't control whether street names are shown at different zoom levels, this is set by Google and is presumably based on the legibility of the text given the space available - too small and it would be unreadable.  If you need lots of detail like street names and this isn't showing when printing the map on one page, I think your only option is to print it in sections over several pages - there is an option to do this when you print.

John

It's been a while and I still am having the same problem of the zoom in/out moving too far. It's not a mouse problem. It occurs with each computer I use. If you'd like, we cam select one of my routes and you can see if you can make it so it will print on one page with as many street names showing clearly as possible.

Thank you and Happy New Year!

Annette

Hi Annette - The map should zoom in and out in small increments.  I'm wondering if maybe it is a problem with the mouse you are using.  Do you have another mouse you could try?  If your mouse has a scroll wheel you can try zooming in and out with that too.

John

The Zoom feature zooms in/out too far. When I want to print out my route, either the route won't be visible in its entirety because it is zoomed in too far, or is too small to be useful (can't read street names) because it is zoomed out too far. I have tried carefully pulling the bar down rather than using (+) or (-) to no avail.