diff --git a/code/boot.js b/code/boot.js
index 3fde7730..29b052cc 100644
--- a/code/boot.js
+++ b/code/boot.js
@@ -226,14 +226,16 @@ window.setupMap = function() {
 
   // update map hooks
   map.on('movestart zoomstart', window.requests.abort);
-  map.on('moveend zoomend', function() { window.startRefreshTimeout(500) });
-
-  // run once on init
-  window.requestData();
-  window.startRefreshTimeout();
+  map.on('moveend zoomend', function() { console.log('map moveend'); window.startRefreshTimeout(ON_MOVE_REFRESH*1000) });
 
   window.addResumeFunction(window.requestData);
   window.requests.addRefreshFunction(window.requestData);
+
+  // start the refresh process with a small timeout, so the first data request happens quickly
+  // (the code originally called the request function directly, and triggered a normal delay for the nxt refresh.
+  //  however, the moveend/zoomend gets triggered on map load, causing a duplicate refresh. this helps prevent that
+  window.startRefreshTimeout(ON_MOVE_REFRESH*1000);
+
 };
 
 // renders player details into the website. Since the player info is
diff --git a/code/request_handling.js b/code/request_handling.js
index 6766fd5f..84617d54 100644
--- a/code/request_handling.js
+++ b/code/request_handling.js
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ window.failedRequestCount = 0;
 
 window.requests = function() {}
 
+//time of last refresh
+window.requests._lastRefreshTime = 0;
+window.requests._quickRefreshPending = false;
+
 window.requests.add = function(ajax) {
   window.activeRequests.push(ajax);
   renderUpdateStatus();
@@ -38,17 +42,19 @@ window.renderUpdateStatus = function() {
   if(mapRunsUserAction)
     t += 'paused during interaction';
   else if(isIdle())
-    t += '<span style="color:red">Idle, not updating.</span>';
+    t += '<span style="color:#888">Idle, not updating.</span>';
   else if(window.activeRequests.length > 0)
     t += window.activeRequests.length + ' requests running.';
+  else if(window.requests._quickRefreshPending)
+    t += 'refreshing...';
   else
     t += 'Up to date.';
 
   if(renderLimitReached())
-    t += ' <span style="color:red" class="help" title="Can only render so much before it gets unbearably slow. Not all entities are shown. Zoom in or increase the limit (search for MAX_DRAWN_*).">RENDER LIMIT</span> '
+    t += ' <span style="color:#f66" class="help" title="Can only render so much before it gets unbearably slow. Not all entities are shown. Zoom in or increase the limit (search for MAX_DRAWN_*).">RENDER LIMIT</span> '
 
   if(window.failedRequestCount > 0)
-    t += ' <span style="color:red">' + window.failedRequestCount + ' failed</span>.'
+    t += ' <span style="color:#f66">' + window.failedRequestCount + ' failed</span>.'
 
   t += '<br/>(';
   var minlvl = getMinPortalLevel();
@@ -78,19 +84,28 @@ window.startRefreshTimeout = function(override) {
   if(refreshTimeout) clearTimeout(refreshTimeout);
   var t = 0;
   if(override) {
+    window.requests._quickRefreshPending = true;
     t = override;
+    //ensure override can't cause too fast a refresh if repeatedly used (e.g. lots of scrolling/zooming)
+    timeSinceLastRefresh = new Date().getTime()-window.requests._lastRefreshTime;
+    if(timeSinceLastRefresh < 0) timeSinceLastRefresh = 0;  //in case of clock adjustments
+    if(timeSinceLastRefresh < MINIMUM_OVERRIDE_REFRESH*1000)
+      t = (MINIMUM_OVERRIDE_REFRESH*1000-timeSinceLastRefresh);
   } else {
+    window.requests._quickRefreshPending = false;
     t = REFRESH*1000;
     var adj = ZOOM_LEVEL_ADJ * (18 - window.map.getZoom());
     if(adj > 0) t += adj*1000;
   }
   var next = new Date(new Date().getTime() + t).toLocaleTimeString();
-  console.log('planned refresh: ' + next);
+  console.log('planned refresh in ' + (t/1000) + ' seconds, at ' + next);
   refreshTimeout = setTimeout(window.requests._callOnRefreshFunctions, t);
+  renderUpdateStatus();
 }
 
 window.requests._onRefreshFunctions = [];
 window.requests._callOnRefreshFunctions = function() {
+  console.log('running refresh at ' + new Date().toLocaleTimeString());
   startRefreshTimeout();
 
   if(isIdle()) {
@@ -101,6 +116,9 @@ window.requests._callOnRefreshFunctions = function() {
 
   console.log('refreshing');
 
+  //store the timestamp of this refresh
+  window.requests._lastRefreshTime = new Date().getTime();
+
   $.each(window.requests._onRefreshFunctions, function(ind, f) {
     f();
   });
@@ -121,4 +139,4 @@ window.requests.isLastRequest = function(action) {
     }
   });
   return result;
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/main.js b/main.js
index 73ffe9d0..0431d98e 100644
--- a/main.js
+++ b/main.js
@@ -112,8 +112,10 @@ function wrapper() {
 L_PREFER_CANVAS = false;
 
 // CONFIG OPTIONS ////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-window.REFRESH = 30; // refresh view every 30s (base time)
+window.REFRESH = 60; // refresh view every 60s (base time)
 window.ZOOM_LEVEL_ADJ = 5; // add 5 seconds per zoom level
+window.ON_MOVE_REFRESH = 0.8;  //refresh time to use after a movement event
+window.MINIMUM_OVERRIDE_REFRESH = 5; //limit on refresh time since previous refresh, limiting repeated move refresh rate
 window.REFRESH_GAME_SCORE = 5*60; // refresh game score every 5 minutes
 window.MAX_IDLE_TIME = 4; // stop updating map after 4min idling
 window.PRECACHE_PLAYER_NAMES_ZOOM = 17; // zoom level to start pre-resolving player names