To learn about Microsoft's new Silverlight 2.0 technology, I've set up an experimental website at www.deepzoom.com.
Silverlight 2.0 is a cross-browser (IE/Firefox/Safari), cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. Learn more at http://silverlight.net/.
DeepZoom is part of Silverlight 2.0 which lets you create zoomable images of relatively huge dimension (check out this link for 16kx16k USGS Urban Area imagery of Denver: http://www.cadmaps.com/gisblog/?p=32).
In the example below, I've created a set of nautical charts covering all of Puget Sound. Scrolling, panning, and zooming give an experience similar to Google Earth or Microsoft Virtual Earth. Even though you're accessing a huge dataset, the tiles are broken into small chunks, giving quite reasonable performance when zooming and panning.
To access the site, you'll need to install the beta of Silverlight 2.0 (4MB download), and then press F5 to refresh the browser.
