General: How does one prevent plot data from appearing outside axis window after zoom-in?

I'm using subplot and linkaxes to plot spatial data (sensor-measured horizontal position data over geo map). I use three subplots that have identical x and y limits but different data properties. The linkaxes function allows for equal zoom across all three windows when I use the mouse to zoom in or pan. The zoom works fine until I add patches to the plots. After patches are added and the figure is rendered, data spill over the limits of the plot window and make the resulting image unreadable. Help?

[Robert Mueller]

Clarification: Last sentence should read: " After patches are added and the figure is rendered, following a zoom-in (using the mouse), data spill over the limits of the respective plot windows and make the resulting image unreadable."