diff --git a/code/map_data_calc_tools.js b/code/map_data_calc_tools.js
index 047d3381..db51b1ac 100755
--- a/code/map_data_calc_tools.js
+++ b/code/map_data_calc_tools.js
@@ -15,9 +15,15 @@ window.setupDataTileParams = function() {
   var DEFAULT_ZOOM_TO_TILES_PER_EDGE = [60, 60, 60, 60, 60, 120, 500, 500, 2000, 4000, 4000, 8000, 32000, 64000];
   var DEFAULT_ZOOM_TO_LEVEL = [8,8,8,8,7,7,7,6,6,5,4,4,3,2,2,1,1];
 
+  // stock intel doesn't have this array (they use a switch statement instead), but this is far neater
+  var DEFAULT_ZOOM_TO_LINK_LENGTH = [200000,200000,200000,200000,200000,60000,60000,10000,5000,2500,2500,800,300,0,0];
 
   window.TILE_PARAMS = {};
 
+  // not in stock to detect - we'll have to assume the above values...
+  window.TILE_PARAMS.ZOOM_TO_LINK_LENGTH = DEFAULT_ZOOM_TO_LINK_LENGTH;
+
+
   if (niantic_params.ZOOM_TO_LEVEL && niantic_params.TILES_PER_EDGE) {
     window.TILE_PARAMS.ZOOM_TO_LEVEL = niantic_params.ZOOM_TO_LEVEL;
     window.TILE_PARAMS.TILES_PER_EDGE = niantic_params.TILES_PER_EDGE;
@@ -67,6 +73,8 @@ window.getMapZoomTileParameters = function(zoom) {
     level: level,
     maxLevel: window.TILE_PARAMS.ZOOM_TO_LEVEL[zoom] || 0,  // for reference, for log purposes, etc
     tilesPerEdge: window.TILE_PARAMS.TILES_PER_EDGE[zoom] || maxTilesPerEdge,
+    minLinkLength: window.TILE_PARAMS.ZOOM_TO_LINK_LENGTH[zoom] || 0,
+    noPortals: zoom < window.TILE_PARAMS.ZOOM_TO_LINK_LENGTH.length,  // no portals returned at all when link length limits things
     zoom: zoom  // include the zoom level, for reference
   };
 }
diff --git a/code/status_bar.js b/code/status_bar.js
index 10dd8858..93a53c89 100644
--- a/code/status_bar.js
+++ b/code/status_bar.js
@@ -11,36 +11,24 @@ window.renderUpdateStatus = function() {
 
   var zoom = map.getZoom();
   zoom = getDataZoomForMapZoom(zoom);
-
-  var minLinkLength;
-  if (zoom <= 4) minLinkLength = 200000;
-  else if (zoom <= 6) minLinkLength = 60000;
-  else if (zoom <= 7) minLinkLength = 10000;
-  else if (zoom <= 8) minLinkLength = 5000;
-  else if (zoom <= 10) minLinkLength = 2500;
-  else if (zoom <= 11) minLinkLength = 800;
-  else if (zoom <= 12) minLinkLength = 300;
-  else if (zoom <= 14) minLinkLength = 0; // 0 means 'all links, but not all portals'
-  else minLinkLength = -1; // -1 means 'all links and portals by min level'
-
-  var minlvl = getMinPortalLevel();
-
+  var tileParams = getMapZoomTileParameters(zoom);
 
   var t = '<span class="help portallevel" title="Indicates portal levels/link lengths displayed.  Zoom in to display more.">';
 
-  if (minLinkLength == -1) {
+  if (!tileParams.noPortals) {
+    // zoom level includes portals (and also all links/fields)
     if(!window.isSmartphone()) // space is valuable
       t += '<b>portals</b>: ';
-    if(minlvl === 0)
+    if(tileParams.level === 0)
       t += '<span id="loadlevel">all</span>';
     else
-      t += '<span id="loadlevel" style="background:'+COLORS_LVL[minlvl]+'">L'+minlvl+(minlvl<8?'+':'') + '</span>';
+      t += '<span id="loadlevel" style="background:'+COLORS_LVL[minlvl]+'">L'+tileParams.level+(tileParams.level<8?'+':'') + '</span>';
   } else {
     if(!window.isSmartphone()) // space is valuable
       t += '<b>links</b>: ';
 
-    if (minLinkLength > 0)
-      t += '<span id="loadlevel">&gt;'+(minLinkLength>1000?minLinkLength/1000+'km':minLinkLength+'m')+'</span>';
+    if (tileParams.minLinkLength > 0)
+      t += '<span id="loadlevel">&gt;'+(tileParams.minLinkLength>1000?tileParams.minLinkLength/1000+'km':tileParams.minLinkLength+'m')+'</span>';
     else
       t += '<span id="loadlevel">all links</span>';
   }