diff --git a/gmap.py b/gmap.py
index 77e9be3..7ff6de0 100755
--- a/gmap.py
+++ b/gmap.py
@@ -36,22 +36,21 @@ def main():
 
     print "processing chunks in background"
     results = world.render_chunks_async(chunks, False, options.procs)
-
-    print "Generating quad tree. This may take a while and has no progress bar right now, so sit tight."
-
+    
+    print "Writing out html file"
     if not os.path.exists(destdir):
         os.mkdir(destdir)
-        tiledir = os.path.join(destdir, "tiles");
-        if not os.path.exists(tiledir):
-          os.mkdir(tiledir)
+    zoom = world.get_quadtree_depth(mincol, maxcol, minrow, maxrow)
+    write_html(destdir, zoom+1)
 
-    zoom = world.generate_quadtree(results, mincol, maxcol, minrow, maxrow, tiledir)
+    print "Generating quad tree. This may take a while and has no progress bar right now, so sit tight."
+    tiledir = os.path.join(destdir, "tiles");
+    if not os.path.exists(tiledir):
+        os.mkdir(tiledir)
+    world.generate_quadtree(results, mincol, maxcol, minrow, maxrow, tiledir)
 
     print "DONE"
 
-    print "Writing out html file"
-    write_html(destdir, zoom+1)
-
 def write_html(path, zoomlevel):
     templatepath = os.path.join(os.path.split(__file__)[0], "template.html")
     html = open(templatepath, 'r').read()
diff --git a/world.py b/world.py
index 4863544..11c7a73 100644
--- a/world.py
+++ b/world.py
@@ -288,15 +288,13 @@ def render_worldtile(chunkmap, colstart, colend, rowstart, rowend, oldhash):
 
     return tileimg, digest
 
-def generate_quadtree(chunkmap, colstart, colend, rowstart, rowend, prefix):
-    """Base call for quadtree_recurse. This sets up the recursion and generates
-    a quadtree given a chunkmap and the ranges.
-
-    This returns the power of 2 tiles wide and high the image is. This is one
-    less than the maximum zoom (level 0 is a single tile, level 1 is 2 tiles
-    wide by 2 tiles high, etc.)
-
+def get_quadtree_depth(colstart, colend, rowstart, rowend):
+    """Determines the zoom depth of a requested quadtree.
+    
+    Return value is an integer >= 0. Higher integers mean higher resolution maps.
     """
+    # Pulled out of generate_quadtree. Original comment follows:
+    #
     # This first call has a special job. No matter the input, we need to
     # make sure that each recursive call splits both dimensions evenly
     # into a power of 2 tiles wide and high.
@@ -315,6 +313,21 @@ def generate_quadtree(chunkmap, colstart, colend, rowstart, rowend, prefix):
             break
     else:
         raise Exception("Your map is waaaay to big")
+    
+    return p
+
+def generate_quadtree(chunkmap, colstart, colend, rowstart, rowend, prefix):
+    """Base call for quadtree_recurse. This sets up the recursion and generates
+    a quadtree given a chunkmap and the ranges.
+
+    This returns the power of 2 tiles wide and high the image is. This is one
+    less than the maximum zoom (level 0 is a single tile, level 1 is 2 tiles
+    wide by 2 tiles high, etc.)
+
+    """
+    p = get_quadtree_depth(colstart, colend, rowstart, rowend);
+    colmid = (colstart + colend) // 2
+    rowmid = (rowstart + rowend) // 2
 
     # Modify the lower and upper bounds to be sized correctly
     colstart = colmid - 2*2**p
@@ -327,8 +340,6 @@ def generate_quadtree(chunkmap, colstart, colend, rowstart, rowend, prefix):
 
     quadtree_recurse(chunkmap, colstart, colend, rowstart, rowend, prefix, "base")
 
-    return p
-
 def quadtree_recurse(chunkmap, colstart, colend, rowstart, rowend, prefix, quadrant):
     """Recursive method that generates a quadtree.
     A single call generates, saves, and returns an image with the range