Zooming

[LDiCesare]

I use it to get a global view of the map from time to time. It's a major annoyance though that they screwed something in 1.61 which makes it almost unusable on my computer (let's blame my video card).

[Blake]

Originally posted by Jaybe

How DO the trade links work?? I've never understood any usefullness to the trade view in the FIRST place!!

You can use the trade view to see how the connections works.

Basically, riverbanks are conductive tiles, when two rivers come close together they will (or can) be linked for purposes of trade even though there is no water shared between them. River trade actually flows along tiles adjacant to rivers.
A road makes a tile conductive to trade, a road which connects to the banks of a river will link the river trade system with the road trade system.
Water tiles in culture are always conductive, coastal tiles are conductive post-sailing, ocean tiles are conductive post-astronomy.
Trade flows from river to water, but not road to water. Road trade can only be linked to water trade via a river or city.

Tiles are NEVER conductive to trade if they are in hostile culture or not scouted by either party (the visibility rules are pretty weird).

[LordShiva]

Finally, a poll worth voting in

[Blaupanzer]

The resource view is very useful, especially for new resources. Lets you know who has it and where. From that you can either exploit it or go get it depending on the location.