Hey there, thanks for your support of the game! That's a great idea about growing the minimap incrementally -- I've added that to my to-do list.
For now, you might be interested in the F5, F6, and F7 buttons to help with the minimap:
Minimap Shortcuts:
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F5 (hold): Show military ships only
F6 (hold): Show wormholes and resources only
F7 (hold): Show enemy ships only
Also, you might like the "Allow Very Far Zoom" and "Allow Overzoom" options in the game settings, since those let you get way out there to see everything at once. If it is taking too long to get out there, you can also adjust the zoom speed.