Austin Howard
I would like the ability to lock maps at the edges so that panning and scroll stop when the edges of the map are reached. This is essentially how Google Maps works (though it repeats in the east/west dimension, which I am not asking for). To break this down more specifically:
  1. Panning should stop when the edge of the view reaches the edge of the map image (i.e. before any void is shown).
  2. When zooming out, zoom should stop when the shortest dimension of the map image will be smaller than the view (again, preventing any void from showing).
I think this would be a good change for the following reasons:
  1. Best use of screen space—Without edge locking, I have to be very precise in my movements to avoid wasting screen real estate on void. This is especially problematic when I am zoomed out more. Of course, it is possible to place the map just so, but it is inconvenient to have to shepherd this. Monitoring where I am relative to the edges is a mental drain that, for me, worsens the experience.
  2. Convenient navigation—Edge locking lets me get to the widest view by zooming out until the screen stops moving, instead of having to carefully watch where I’m at (or know exactly where the edges of the map are). Similarly, I can find the northmost/southmost/etc areas by moving all the way up or down. When there is no “all the way”, we don’t benefit from this kind of easy indexing. The same principle is already present in the text editor, which doesn't scroll up or down infinitely, but stops you when you've reached the edge of the content; I think it makes sense to extend this to how the map functions.
  3. Immersion for players—When I show the map on-screen for my players, the occasional appearances of void at the edges feel just a little clunky, which reminds them that this is software and not a real world. Because the map is unbounded, they can literally see behind the curtain. I think the Google Maps experience matches how they expect a “real” map to behave, and therefore helps immersion.
  4. Cosmetics—I personally don't like looking at the void, especially when I accidentally zoom out too much and my world is just floating in nothingness.