Deep Zoom - Sliverlight 2 Beta

Deep Zoom - Sliverlight 2 Beta

Deep Zoom requires silverlight 2 beta 1, works in firefox 3beta3.


This has potential - this is only one single image (4.1mb) but if you used quadtiles then the quality of the image when zooming would be preserved - this requires pre-processing and can be time consuming when dealing with high resolution images.
A Free Application 'MapCruncher' will produce tiles that can be used.
The extra item here is that you are not restricted to using raster data.
Vector Data can also be used.

Sliverlight highlights:

• Custom branded experiences using 2D vector graphics, animation, styling, and skinning.

• Highly sophisticated across major browsers on Mac, Windows, Linux, and devices.

• HD video and adaptive streaming techniques for world-class media experiences.

• Unparalleled interactivity with high resolution content through Deep Zoom technology enabling smooth browsing independent of screen size.

To Create 'Vector Tiles' there is a little known set of python scripts available here
http://research.microsoft.com/MapCruncher/TiledVectors/TiledVectorsDemo-1.1/description.html

There is a demo that works straight from the download (USA States)

In Virtual Earth

Very Generalised when zoomed out.



A Very Generalised Dataset but when you zoom in is much faster at displaying. Notice the less generalised data when zoomed in (this demo is purely to show the process).
When in 3D mode the Vector lines are rasterised on the fly.

Limitations - Polylines only - Polygon generalisation can be more demanding.

Combined the Four Products (Sliverlight, MapCruncher, TileVectors and Virtual Earth) and you have a nice production line for creating your own online/offline interactive maps.