[Xastir] Now that I have it, What do I do with it?

[wa7skg]

I finally have Xastir running, decoding and displaying data. Now what? 
Various questions abound.

1. Maps. Map > Map Chooser gives me a list that I have no idea which to 
choose. Is there a description some place about these? I've tried 
several, some take many minutes to load, some look like a child drew 
them with a broken crayon, others simply make no sense.

2. What am I looking at on the screen? I see a bunch of icons. I can't 
seem to find any kind of legend that tells me what they are. Some of the 
icons have associated text that is completely unreadable. They are 
bright yellow, small, and in a weird font. I am also seeing various 
lines on the screen. Some are associated with icons, some not. Some are 
straight, some have specific bends, others just seem to randomly meander 
around the screen. Some are solid, some are dotted, some are dashed. 
They are in all colors, red, black, green, violet, white, blue, etc. 
These lines seemingly come and go at random. Some of the icons have red 
flags on them that look like wind symbols on weather charts. Zooming in 
only shows a smaller area, it does not affect the text at all.

3. The navigation buttons at the top are very awkward to use. They move 
in such large jumps it is hard to center on any particular segment of 
the screen.

4. Should I be beaconing or something to show others I am there? I have 
yet to see my radio transmit. I look at on-line resources like aprs.fi 
and I see everybody on my screen except me.

5. I guess the biggest question right now is, so what? What purpose does 
this serve me right now? How can I utilize this information? I 
understand I can send messages, but is everybody looking for messages?

Thanks for the help.

73,
Michael WA7SKG