diff --git a/resource/plot.ui b/resource/plot.ui
index 8419a72..224c864 100644
--- a/resource/plot.ui
+++ b/resource/plot.ui
@@ -90,6 +90,16 @@
        </property>
       </spacer>
      </item>
+     <item>
+      <widget class="QCheckBox" name="autoscale_checkbox">
+       <property name="text">
+        <string>autoscale</string>
+       </property>
+       <property name="checked">
+        <bool>true</bool>
+       </property>
+      </widget>
+     </item>
      <item>
       <widget class="QCheckBox" name="autoscroll_checkbox">
        <property name="text">
diff --git a/src/rqt_plot/plot_widget.py b/src/rqt_plot/plot_widget.py
index 5160f55..9b80dcc 100644
--- a/src/rqt_plot/plot_widget.py
+++ b/src/rqt_plot/plot_widget.py
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@
 from rqt_py_common import topic_helpers
 
 from . rosplot import ROSData, RosPlotException
+from .data_plot import DataPlot
 
 def get_plot_fields(topic_name):
     topic_type, real_topic, _ = topic_helpers.get_topic_type(topic_name)
@@ -154,6 +155,10 @@ def switch_data_plot_widget(self, data_plot):
         self.data_plot = data_plot
         self.data_plot_layout.addWidget(self.data_plot)
         self.data_plot.autoscroll(self.autoscroll_checkbox.isChecked())
+        if self.autoscale_checkbox.isChecked():
+            self.data_plot.set_autoscale(y=DataPlot.SCALE_EXTEND|DataPlot.SCALE_VISIBLE)
+        else:
+            self.data_plot.set_autoscale(y=False)
 
         # setup drag 'n drop
         self.data_plot.dropEvent = self.dropEvent
@@ -230,6 +235,14 @@ def on_autoscroll_checkbox_clicked(self, checked):
         if checked:
             self.data_plot.redraw()
 
+    @Slot(bool)
+    def on_autoscale_checkbox_clicked(self, checked):
+        if checked:
+            self.data_plot.set_autoscale(y=DataPlot.SCALE_EXTEND|DataPlot.SCALE_VISIBLE)
+            self.data_plot.redraw()
+        else:
+            self.data_plot.set_autoscale(y=False)
+
     @Slot()
     def on_clear_button_clicked(self):
         self.clear_plot()
diff --git a/src/rqt_plot/rosplot.py b/src/rqt_plot/rosplot.py
index 34783e4..7d2206f 100644
--- a/src/rqt_plot/rosplot.py
+++ b/src/rqt_plot/rosplot.py
@@ -62,7 +62,14 @@ def _get_topic_type(topic):
         val = master.getTopicTypes()
     except:
         raise RosPlotException("unable to get list of topics from master")
+
     matches = [(t, t_type) for t, t_type in val if t == topic or topic.startswith(t + '/')]
+
+    # Find the longest matching topic. So if user requests /foo/bar/baz and there are two topics, /foo and /foo/bar,
+    # it will match /foo/bar and look for subfield .baz, instead of /foo looking for .bar.baz.
+    # There is still ambiguity here, but hopefully this resolves it in the correct direction more often
+    matches.sort(key=lambda x: len(x[0]), reverse=True)
+
     if matches:
         t, t_type = matches[0]
         if t_type == roslib.names.ANYTYPE: