Just now, I checked at both around 9pm and 3am in-game time - crashed both times when zooming down from Map View. Haven't attempted during the day yet.
I also tried zooming back down to my Sim's lot: no problem there. No issue also with a couple occupied lots nearby that I checked, for science.
However, when zooming in from Map View to the vacant lot, to the occupied lot next door, and also to the occupied lot two down, I crashed on all of those. Same for another house nearby (one street over). (So maybe my memory was failing me, or I hadn't actually zoomed in on the neighboring house(s) before). I wasn't able to scroll over to next door, before it crashed.
For science, I stayed in regular view, and just slowly WASD'd my way down through the map in regular view, and once I got close enough to where that street begins and the homes came into render, I crashed.
Obviously I didn't take the time to click on ALL the lots in the town, so I cannot be certain, but it seems possibly restricted to this one street/area where the vacant lot is, and not just an issue with Map View/zoom? Or maybe just a very weird coincidence. (There is one other vacant lot in town as well, on the opposite end of the map; no crashing when zooming in on that one or its close neighbors.)
With a new save, I went right into Map View, zoomed in on a few lots, both occupied and vacant, in different areas, with no issues. This was during daytime, when first loading in.
This is a save I've had for a while - years probably. Far as I can remember, I first encountered this crashing issue last year. I have another (even older, larger save), but I don't believe I have any vacant lots left in that town, so I cannot compare.
I do also have Master Controller and other NRAAS mods installed; I'm not sure if a resent town/lot or something similar would help? I haven't tried anything like that yet.
Anyway, thanks for looking into this puzzlezaddict. It is not really a game-breaking problem for me, but it is a strange bug, nonetheless!