Deep Zoom and Zoom.it by Microsoft
If you have some time don’t miss two interesting tools from Microsoft.
Deep Zoom is an implementation of the open source technology, provided by Microsoft, for use in for image viewing applications. It allows users to pan around and zoom in a large, high resolution image or a large collection of images. It reduces the time required for initial load by downloading only the region being viewed and/or only at the resolution it is displayed at. Subsequent regions are downloaded as the user pans to (or zooms into them); animations are used to hide any jerkiness in the transition.
Zoom.it is a free service for viewing and sharing high-resolution imagery. You give us the link to any image on the web, and we give you a beautiful new way to experience it — along with a nice short URL. Zoom.it converts your image to the Deep Zoom format, which lets you smoothly and efficiently explore the whole image, no matter how large. Check out Deep Zoom Studio for examples of this technology in action. Zoom.it runs on Windows Azure and enhances the experience with Microsoft Silverlight when available.