[Xastir] Maps, Maps, Maps

[KK6RW]

Hello all,

    I've read with interest the messages regarding maps and now after a 
short time away from playing with Xastir, I want to try some different maps. 
I'm running Xastir on a Windows box with Cygwin.

    First, I would like to save copies of online Tiger maps to use when I 
might not have an Inet connection. I see the different images saved in the 
map_cache directory but no corresponding .geo files. Is there a way to save 
these maps without using the snapshot feature? Speakign of the snapshot 
feature, is there a way to change the default timing of five minutes?

    About Shapefiles. I've downloaded, extracted and indexed the Washington 
state shapefiles from http://wetnet.net/~we7u/xastir/maps/shapefile/USA/WA/ 
but I've now got over 125 SHP files with no discernable correlation to my 
area of interest. Am I doing something wrong?

    I've downloaded the county and other shapefiles for the weather warnings 
but I have not seen them displayed. Will they display over the online Tiger 
maps?

    I appreciate any input or suggestions from the group.

Randy - KK6RW